Brawl highlights a murder trial

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