Court hears Ratna's lawsuit against police
Court hears Ratna's lawsuit against police
JAKARTA (JP): North Jakarta District Court belatedly heard
lawsuits yesterday filed by popular stage actress Ratna Sarumpaet
and five other people against police officers they accuse of
arresting them illegally.
On Monday, the same court refused to hear the cases brought by
the six plaintiffs' lawyers on the grounds that the police had
not let the plaintiffs attend the hearing.
Five of the plaintiffs -- Ratna, reporter Ging Ginanjar,
lawyer Alexius Surya Tjahaya Tomu and activists Nandang
Wirakusumah and Jul Taher -- arrived at the court in a police
detention van at 1:30 p.m.
The sixth plaintiff, Ratna's daughter, Fathom Saulina, who had
been released on her father's request, arrived on time in the
morning.
Scores of people, including relatives of the plaintiffs, and
dozens of police officers and plainclothes officials flocked to
the court in the morning. The session was scheduled to open at 10
a.m.
The six plaintiffs were among nine people who were arrested on
Feb. 10 for holding the so-called Indonesian People's Summit in a
hotel in Ancol, North Jakarta.
The plaintiffs are suing the North Jakarta Police Chief and
the City Police chief over their arrest and detention.
Wearing a black dress, Ratna read her lawsuit to the session
which was presided over by Judge Soeparto. She insisted that her
arrest and detention were illegal.
She said the North Jakarta Police chief did not give her an
arrest warrant.
"I'm the police chief. I don't need a warrant," Ratna quoted
the police chief as saying when officers were arresting her. "It
violated the law," she added.
Ratna, whose play Marsinah Menggugat (Marsinah (a dead
workers' rights activist) Protests) was banned in several cities,
said the warrant and detention order were given after she had
been detained for more than 24 hours. This, she argued, was in
violation of Article 19 of the Criminal Code Procedures.
She asked the court to state that the arrest and detention by
the police were illegal and demanded that she be released from
detention.
She also demanded that the court should order police to admit
to the illegal arrest and announce it in print media and on
television.
The other five plaintiffs had the same demands.
The police, represented by three lawyers, rejected the
lawsuits, saying that the arrests and detentions were legal.
Ali Alosarila, one of the police lawyers, said that the
plaintiffs were caught red-handed so an arrest warrant was not
necessary.
He said the police had given the detainees the arrest and
detention warrants less than 24 hours after the arrests but the
plaintiffs had refused to receive them.
Three judges -- Soeparto, Ismail L. and Pandapotan Sinaga --
adjourned the hearing to today to hear the plaintiffs' reaction
to the police's statement.
"I asked the police to bring the plaintiffs here tomorrow.
It's should be considered a court decision. We will not send the
police a letter again for that," Soeparto told the lawyers.
The plaintiffs and their lawyers asked the court to order the
police to bring the plaintiffs on time in the morning.
Ratna wanted to read an additional statement but was
disappointed after Soeparto, who had promised to give time to
her, refused to hear it and closed the day's proceedings.
She said that she did not intend to corner the police through
the lawsuit and stressed that she was just following the law. "I
just want the law to be respected in the country. Everybody,
including the police, can make mistakes," she added.
The plaintiffs are being charged under Article 5 of Law No.
5/1963 on political related activities which carries a maximum
punishment of five years in jail. (jun)