Bali need 3,000 police for terror trials

Bali need 3,000 police for terror trials

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post,
Surabaya/Denpasar

Police authorities are now preparing a special team involving
some 3,000 police officers to secure the buildings where the
series of trials for the suspects in the Bali terror attacks will
be held.

Bali police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Y. Suyatmo said Thursday
that the team would be backed up by military personnel and
traditional Balinese security guards.

"The manner in which we'll guard the trials will be similar to
when we provide security for very, very important persons like
the president and state guests," Suyatmo said.

The first trials of the suspects, most of whom are radical
Muslims from Java, in the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, which killed at
least 202 people and injured over 350 others, are expected to
start in early March.

Suyatmo said the people guarding the trials would receive
special training, including training on when and how to act if a
group tries to disrupt the trials. There has been tension in
predominantly Hindu Bali toward the suspects and their lawyers,
as most blame the bombing, which has crippled the economy, on
Javanese Muslims.

Also, it is feared that certain radical Islamic groups could
use the trials as a platform to provoke ethnic and religious
tension.

Bali police chief Ins. Gen. Budi Setyawan, according to
Suyatmo, had issued an instruction to set up a special team to
anticipate any eventuality in the trials of suspected terrorists
responsible for the Bali bombing.

The 3,000 strong team will be headed by the director of Bali
police patrol unit Sr. Comr. H. Ismail.

The 3,000 police officers would be split into three security
layers - the first, second and third rings.

Suyatmo said all doors leading to court rooms would be
equipped with a metal detector.

The trial venue will be decided in a meeting attended by
representatives from the Bali administration, military, police,
Bali provincial council and leaders of other official
institutions, Suyatmo said.

He said the Nari Graha building is one possibility

Suyatmo said the Bali police chief had also stressed the need
to strengthen security at all entrances to Bali, especially
Gilimanuk and Padangbai, ports with ferries to and from Java and
Lombok respectively, to prevent non-Balinese from entering the
island.

Despite the security measures, he made it cleat that the Bali
police intelligence units had so far not had any information
about any plan to disrupt the trial.

Meanwhile, a prosecutor in the trial of Silverster Tendean,
the owner of the Tidar Chemical shop in Surabaya, East Java where
key suspect Amrozi purchased chemicals for the bombs, said
Thursday that he bring Amrozi in as a witness.

Silverster is currently being tried at the Surabaya District
Court with on terrorism charges, which carries a maximum sentence
of death.

"We will present a number of witnesses, one of them is
Amrozi," prosecutor Donny Kanedzar Irdan said.