Court inconsistent in pre-trial proceedings

JAKARTA (JP): Pre-trial proceedings in a case brought against the city police chief by detained supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri took another twist yesterday when judges decided to hear the plaintiffs case in their absence.

Last week, South Jakarta District Court refused to hear the case under similar circumstances. Police did not release the detainees to attend the scheduled hearing.

Lawyers representing the 122 plaintiffs urged the court to hear their case before they run out of time. Pre-trial proceedings will have to be abandoned unless lawyers can convince the court to open their case in earnest. They have until the police submit dossiers containing their case against the detainees to do so.

The prosecutors office was supposed to take the 57 plaintiffs detained at Cipinang and Pondok Bambu penitentiaries to the court yesterday.

The other 65 plaintiffs, whose suits will be heard tomorrow, are being held at the City Police detention center.

Proceedings began last Friday in the presence of 57 of the 122 plaintiffs who are suing City Police Chief. Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata for alleged illegal detention.

The 122 are among 157 members of Barisan Merah Putih (the Red- and-White Front) arrested on Feb. 15 while marching from the Attorney General's Office in Blok M to the Ministry of Manpower on Jl. Gatot Subroto to protest soaring food prices.

Dozens of relatives waited hours for their loved ones to appear in court yesterday. They asked Djazuli Pranoto Soedibyo, deputy head of the court, why the plaintiffs failed to appear.

"I have prepared food for my son. I thought he would be here so I did not visit him in the penitentiary today," said Efendi, whose son Dendi Sugandi is one of the detainees.

"We are like beggars, lying around the court waiting for our relatives since morning, only to be told they are not coming," another man said.

Djazuli patiently told relatives that the Criminal Code Procedure did not provide the court with the power to summon plaintiffs.

"Ask the prosecutors office why they didn't bring them here. The prosecutors office knew the trial was to be continued today (yesterday)," he said.

Petrus Selestinus, one of the dozen lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said he and his colleagues agreed to the court hearing the case in the plaintiffs' absence because they did not want the suit to be dropped when police submitted their case to the court.

"We have been informed that police dossiers have been submitted to the South Jakarta Prosecutors Office and will soon be submitted to this court. If the court decides to proceed with police charges, our actions will have to be dropped," Petrus said.

The plaintiffs reiterated yesterday that detention warrants had only been obtained five days after their arrest.

They questioned why thousands of students demanding political and economic reform across the city had not being charged and why police had used different articles of the Criminal Code to deal with demonstrators pressing the same demands.

"Activist Karlina Leksono who protested soaring milk prices was charged under Article 510 of the Criminal Code," the statement said.

Members of the Barisan Merah Putih were initially charged under the same article for conducting a street rally without the necessary police permit.

However, charges have subsequently been changed and the 157 are now being held under Article 5 of Law No. 5/1963 on political activities.

The trial will resume today with the police response to the plaintiffs' statements. (jun)