Confession to murder retracted

JAKARTA (JP): A high school student told a court on Wednesday that he had been forced to confess to fatally stabbing a person.

"I was coerced by the police into admitting that I stabbed Abdul Halim to death," the suspect, identified only as Ind., 18, told the East Jakarta district court.

On Jan.16, victim Abdul Halim, a high school student, was attacked on a minibus heading to Kampung Melayu terminal in East Jakarta by a gang of a technical high school students on Jl. Inspeksi Saluran Kali Malang.

Seven suspects, all high school students, including Ind, are being tried in two separate hearings for their alleged involvement in the brawl in which the suspect was killed.

Taking the witness stand in a hearing of the six other suspects, Ind said that he retracted his statement made to the police.

"It is up to you if you want to give elaborate testimonies," Judge Tojib Madretis said, "we will take your misdemeanor into consideration when we discuss the term of punishment." (14)