Bring Soeharto by force to court, say observers

Bring Soeharto by force to court, say observers

JAKARTA (JP): Legal and media observers said on Friday that
force could be used by prosecutors to bring former president
Soeharto to court should he fail to show up at the next hearing
of his US$571 million graft trial on Sept. 28.

Coordinator of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) Teten
Masduki, executive director of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI) Hendardi and media observer Wimar
Witoelar noted that the law was a tool which could be used to
force "difficult defendants" to appear before the court.

"The law is a forceful, repressive tool. It aims at
straightening things out and for that, force is needed for
difficult defendants," Teten said at a meeting between members of
the media and political observers at Hotel Atlet Century Park in
Senayan, Central Jakarta.

"Everybody has to bow before the law. If Soeharto neglects the
rule of the law, force will be needed to get him to court."

On Thursday, lawyers for the former president said poor mental
health was preventing the former ruler from attending the
hearing.

He is being charged with misappropriating US$571 million of
state funds by siphoning off the money from seven tax-free
charitable foundations he chaired.

"It's just typical, isn't it? He does not want his face
splashed on local and international newspapers and TV screens, so
he'll use this excuse of poor health. Should that scenario fail,
his corruption case will be turned into a civil case, and he'll
go free," Teten said.

The defendant's poor health claims were backed up by his
private team of doctors on Thursday, who projected images of his
brain onto a large screen set up in the courtroom at the Ministry
of Agriculture.

They said the brain scans showed that Soeharto was suffering
from acute Aphasia, making it difficult for him to communicate.

A duty

Wimar said that he would not use the word force in the context
of getting a defendant to court.

"It's called duty. Today, the panel of judges is using a
medical team as the excuse to postpone their duties. They can
choose to risk another bout of riots here and sacrifice the peace
of the people, or firmly demand the defendant appear before
court, one way or another," Wimar said.

"The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) has stated that a
medical team has no right to decide on the presence or absence of
a defendant in court. A medical team's job is merely to inform
the court how sick or how well a defendant is."

"It's the job of judges to decide whether a defendant should
appear in court or not. It depends on a judge's courage."

Teten said the Thursday hearing showed that the judges and the
prosecutors lacked courage.

"The judges and the prosecutors should have asked why those
medical reports, which were months old, were being read out in
court."

He added that prosecutor Muchtar Arifin showed a brief moment
of courage when he asked defense lawyers whether they had given
the summons to appear in court to the defendant.

"Muchtar stopped short of divulging a common secret ... the
personal secretary of the defendant has revealed that the
defendant has no knowledge at all that this trial is going on,"
Teten said, without revealing the name of the secretary.

Hendardi said that prosecutors were pampering Soeharto and
giving him the luxury of time.

"Yes, force can be used. Yet, I feel force should be a final
option as the judges have yet to order prosecutors to take over
the medical care of the defendant," Hendardi said.

"If the judges do so, the defendant will be handled by the
prosecutors, who will eventually find out for themselves the
truth about Soeharto's health. If the defendant turns out to be
fit enough, they can lawfully get him to appear in court." (ylt)