Court judges rule to try 64 suspected rioters

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta District Court judges yesterday ruled the court would try 64 people charged with assault during the July 27 riots.

The panel of judges, in five separate trials, overruled all objections raised by lawyers and defendants.

The hearings were marred by the walk out of a defense lawyer, and the dismissal from the bench of another.

Trimedya Panjaitan, who had led the defense of 12 people, walked out of the courtroom in protest after his demand for a new judge to try the case was rejected.

His actions did not cause a mistrial because nine other lawyers continued to represent the defendants.

"This hearing will continue. The objections by the defense cannot be accepted," Judge Gatam said.

Trimedya had accused the judge of acting unfairly by refusing to even listen to some defendants' complaints.

In another courtroom, where another group was being tried, Judge Nurhayati gave respected senior lawyer Amartiwi Saleh her marching orders because her operating license from the Ministry of Justice expired in April and had not been renewed.

The judge also said Amartiwi was licensed to work in West Java so could not operate in Jakarta.

Amartiwi abided by the ruling and sat in the spectators' bench.

The 64 defendants were arrested during the riot at the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) on July 27. Sixty other people are being tried in the same court but on a different day of the week. If found guilty of assault, they face a maximum seven year jail term.

The defendants, all supporters of ousted PDI chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri, and their lawyers argued the charges should be dismissed because legal counsel were not present when the defendants were interrogated and that the dossiers gave an inaccurate picture of the riot.

The defendants said the riot was started by supporters of Soerjadi, the officially recognized PDI chairman.

The judges said the dossiers were valid. They adjourned the hearing until Monday when the prosecutors will call their witnesses.

The judges ruled that police officers will be allowed to guard inside the courtrooms for security reasons.

Some defendants had called for the removal of these officers, because their presence was intimidating.

The judges also denied the defense's call to release the defendants and put them under city arrest during the trial. (16)