Assault victim protests trial postponement

Theresia Sufa, Bogor

Reny Chandriachsja Suwarso, 38, a lecturer in the Department of Social and Political Studies at the University of Indonesia, and several of her students protested to Cibinong District Court head Andi Samsan Nganro over a delay in the hearing of an assault complaint filed by her.

Reny said presiding judge Djoko Soeseno had announced at the last hearing on May 26 that he would announce his verdict in the case on June 16. But she received a telephone call on June 10 from prosecutor Kosasih, who said the hearing had been rescheduled to June 14.

However, on June 14 the hearing had to be postponed because Djoko was on leave while the other two members of the panel of judges simply failed to appear.

Reny was also upset because the district court schedule said the hearing on Monday was to hear from the defense, not to hear the verdict as she had been told.

Another prosecutor, Ida, confirmed the verdict should have been delivered on Monday, as scheduled by prosecutors and the court clerk.

"I called Pak Djoko this morning (Monday) but he said he was on leave," she said.

Prosecutors earlier demanded the court sentence two researchers at the University of Indonesia -- Herryansah Iberamsjah, 29, a social and political studies researcher, and Nirwansyah Iberamsjah, 23, a researcher in law and technology -- to a year in prison for assaulting Reny and several students at the university.

The two were accused of violating Article 351 of the Criminal Code on assault, which carries a maximum punishment of 32 months in prison.

The incident began when students and lecturers at the university came out in opposition to the appointment of the defendants' father, Iberamsjah, as the head of the Department of Social and Political Studies on Sept. 23, 2003. Opponents charged that the appointment was in violation of university regulations.

According to witnesses, demonstrating students approached Reny and asked whether they could attend the installment ceremony for Iberamsjah.

The witnesses said that when Reny went to speak to several security guards about whether the students could enter the hall where the ceremony was taking place, she bumped into Herryansah who in turn punched her. At the same time, Nirwansyah is alleged to have attacked two students, Rheinhard Sirait and Yudi Fajar M. Wahyu.