Court begins pretrial suit filed by Soeharto

Court begins pretrial suit filed by Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court began on Wednesday the hearing of a pretrial lawsuit filed by former president Soeharto against Attorney General Marzuki Darusman over the Attorney General Office's decision to revoke an Oct. 11, 1999 decree.

In the hearing, lawyers of the country's former strongman demanded that the court declare the decree, which put an end to the investigation into Soeharto's alleged practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), as lawful.

"There is no article in the decree stipulating that the office will revoke it if it finds new evidence.

"The decree guarantees a legal certainty. Therefore, it can't be revoked," said Juan Felix Tampubolon, one of Soeharto's lawyers, while reading the lawsuit in the hearing presided over by judge Rusmandani Ahmad.

The lawsuit challenged Marzuki's decision on Dec. 6, 1999 to reopen the investigation into the former president's alleged KKN practices during his 32-year reign. The decision came only two weeks after he was appointed attorney general, replacing then acting attorney general Ismudjoko on Nov. 26, 1999.

The lawsuit accused the Attorney General's Office of having made fatal administrative mistakes before beginning the reinvestigation of the former president.

"After revoking the decree, the office did not send a copy of the Dec. 6, 1999 decree to the plaintiff, as requested by Article 75 of the Criminal Code Procedures," it said.

The lawsuit also called as unlawful the Attorney General's Office's April 13, 2000 decree, which put Soeharto under city arrest, the May 29 decree, which converted the city arrest status into a house arrest status and the decree to prolong his arrest period.

"Those decrees were issued as the office feared the plaintiff would flee the country. They were pointless as the plaintiff was ill," the lawsuit said, referring to medical reports issued by the Pertamina Hospital and the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

"The plaintiff wouldn't run away. He has been cooperative when the office's investigation team questioned him at his house."

Scores of visitors, including print and television journalists, attended Wednesday's hearing, which started from 9:30 a.m. Soeharto's other lawyers, Indriyanto Seno Adji, Mohammad Assegaf and Denny Kailimang, were also present at the hearing.

Meanwhile, Marzuki was represented by lawyers Antasari Azhar, Barman Zahir and Y.W. Mere.

In response to the former president's lawsuit, Marzuki's lawyers said the Oct. 11, 1999 decree was not a final ruling.

"The decree was different from a court verdict, which has legal certainty," said Y.W. Mere, while reading Marzuki's lawyers' defense statement.

The lawyers' defense statement said it was not necessary to send a copy of the Dec. 6, 1999 decree to the plaintiff.

"We have sent a letter to the former president, dated Dec. 6, 1999, telling him that the Attorney General's Office reopened the investigation into his alleged KKN practices in the past.

"Without sending a copy of the Dec. 6 decree to him, the former president must be automatically aware that the investigation has been reopened," it said.

Soeharto's lawyers insisted that the office did not have the authority to set Soeharto's arrest status.

"The office is only an investigating institution, not a prosecuting institution," said the response statement of the lawyers during the third session of Wednesday's hearing.

In response to Soeharto's lawyers statement that the plaintiff would not flee the country, Marzuki's lawyers said there was no guarantee that the plaintiff would not do such a thing.

"Although the doctors stated he was ill, the former president went to Surakarta and attended his granddaughter's wedding at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah earlier this year," said Marzuki's lawyers in their statement.

Judge Rusmandani adjourned the hearing until Thursday to hear a response statement from Marzuki's lawyers. (asa)