Court confirms Nuku's verdict

Court confirms Nuku's verdict

JAKARTA (JP): The Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of human rights activist Nuku Soleiman, who was convicted of defaming President Soeharto last year, his lawyer said yesterday.

Denny Christyanto, one of Nuku's lawyers, said that he did not receive notice of the Supreme Court's verdict until Dec. 28, 1994, although the verdict was made on Sept. 21.

The Supreme Court judges said in their decision that they upheld the previous verdict of the Jakarta High Court, which sentenced him to five years in prison, and rejected the legal grounds for appeal cited by Nuku.

"There is nothing wrong in the high court's and the district court's verdicts," Judge Tomy Boestomi, who presided over the appeal, said.

"Judges of the Jakarta High Court and the Central Jakarta District Court followed the correct investigation procedures in the lower court and the court of appeal," he added.

In his appeal, Nuku criticized the Central Jakarta District Court for violating the procedures of investigation by restricting his right to speak and defend himself during the trial.

He also criticized the Jakarta High Court and the district court for having erroneously implemented Article 134 of the Criminal Code in relation to the charges that his actions defamed President Soeharto.

Nuku, who still chairs the Pijar Foundation human rights group, was arrested during a demonstration at the House of Representatives on Nov. 25, 1993.

He was found guilty of defaming the President by producing and distributing stickers which attacked the name of Soeharto. For his crime he was sentenced to four years imprisonment by the Central Jakarta District Court in February last year. The sentence was two years less than the maximum penalty allowed by law and sought by the state prosecutors.

The prosecutors, as well as Nuku and his lawyers, then appealed to the Jakarta High Court.

The high court then reaffirmed the Central Jakarta District Court's guilty verdict against Nuku on May 16 last year and added one year to the jail term.(imn)