Brawl highlights a murder trial

JAKARTA: Police have had to divide the South Jakarta District Court building in two to prevent dozens of friends of murder victim Basri Sangaji from attacking supporters of the defendants during a hearing on Tuesday.

Tension was also high inside the courtroom where the two groups sat on opposite sides of the room with a barricade of police occupying the middle.

Basri Sangaji, a leader of a certain ethnic youth group in Jakarta, was brutally murdered by eight members of a rival group in his room at Hotel Kebayoran, South Jakarta, on Oct. 12, 2004.

Presided over by judge Efran Basuning, the court heard statements from Ali Sangaji and Jamal Sangaji, who witnessed the murder, and one of the hotel's security guards who saw the eight defendants vandalize Basri's car parked outside.

The trial was adjourned until next week to hear more witnesses. -- JP