Amrozi retraction fails to kill case
Amrozi retraction fails to kill case
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
Prosecutors in the trial of the key suspect in the Bali bombings,
Amrozi, said his and the other witnesses' denials of their roles
in the terror attacks would not kill the case.
Chief prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan said on Thursday that his
team would both try to persuade the panel of judges to accept the
police records of the suspects' interrogations, and try to use
previous testimony given by other witnesses against the
defendant.
"We have anticipated this move as they were all involved in
the attack. The fact that they retracted their confessions
further convinces us that they were the perpetrators of the
bombings," Urip said.
During the trial on Wednesday, two key witnesses, Abdul Aziz
alias Imam Samudra, and Hutomo Pamungkas, retracted their
confessions to police interrogators on the holding of a series of
meetings in Sukoharjo, Surakarta and Lamongan to plot and
organize the bombings.
Defendant Amrozi supported their testimony, claiming that he
had fabricated all the information about the meetings. Moreover,
another key witness, Ali Gufron, refused to testify against his
younger brother Amrozi.
During police questioning, other suspects in the bombings, Ali
Imron and Hernianto, provided damaging accounts on the role of
Amrozi, Samudra, Hutomo and Ali Gufron in the Bali bombings,
which killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
The denials not only provided another twist to the court
drama, but appeared to push the prosecution into something of a
tight corner.
"It will not matter to us as we still have the police
interrogation files on Ali Gufron. He refused to testify so we
have presented a motion to the court to accept the case file as
admissible evidence," he added.
The Indonesian Criminal Code stipulates that there are only
five things that may be admitted in evidence, namely witness
testimony, the testimony of expert witnesses, the testimony of
defendants, written evidence and clues.
Urip was confident that the judges would accept the case files
on Amrozi and the other suspects as written evidence, which has
happened in the past.
Separately, noted lawyer I Made Sudiantara said that if the
judges accepted the case files in evidence, then the prosecution
would have to summon the police officers who questioned the
suspects to testify before the court.
"I think the prosecutors will stick to this strategy in
dealing with any further retractions in the trial. The reason is
simple, the case files are the only thing the prosecutors have,
and there is precedent to suggest that the judges will accept the
prosecutors' request," he said.
Urip said the prosecution would make maximum use of the
testimony of Ali Imron and Hernianto to convince the judges that
the defendant was involved in plotting the bombing.
"Ali Imron and Hernianto confirmed there was a meeting to plan
the attack and that Amrozi was at the meeting," Urip said.
Ali Imron was the only witness to describe in detail the
meeting in August 2002 in the Central Java town of Sukoharjo,
during which Samudra, the alleged mastermind of the bombings,
allocated tasks to each of the suspected bombers, including the
defendant Amrozi.
So convinced is Ali Imron that the meeting took place that he
was involved in a verbal disagreement with Samudra during the
latter's trial on Thursday evening. Imam vehemently denied that
the meeting took place and that he had participated in it.
Earlier in the day, Amrozi admitted his involvement in a
series of terrorist attacks, including the church bombings in
Mojokerto, East Java, and at the bombings of the Atrium Senen and
the Philippines' embassy, both in Jakarta.
However, he denied the involvement of the alleged spiritual
leader of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, in the Bali
bombings. He had never received an order from Ba'asyir to conduct
the bombings nor did he seek the cleric's blessing before
departing to Bali.
"I did not even bid my wife farewell, so why I should do that
to Abu Bakar Ba'asyir," he said.