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.