Court rejects Amrozi's defense

Court rejects Amrozi's defense

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Jongker Rumthe, The Jakarta Post,
Denpasar/Manado

The Denpasar District Court judges ruled on Thursday that the
trial of Bali bombing suspect Amrozi would continue after they
rejected defense objections to his indictment.

Presiding judge I Made Karna said the court would proceed with
examination of witnesses, beginning on Monday next week.

The panel of judges, in their 46-page ruling, asserted that
the indictment of Amrozi contained clear, accurate and
comprehensive descriptions, including information on times and
locations, of the crime the defendant allegedly committed.

"After careful examination, the judges found the lawyers'
defense objections were unacceptable," Karna said.

In their defense, presented to the court last week, Amrozi's
lawyers said the indictment was not only "blurry" and inaccurate,
but contradicted the non-retroactive principle of the Indonesian
law.

One of his lawyers, Wirawan Adnan said his team would appeal
the court's ruling.

"We will contest the decision but will wait until the all of
the witnesses testify," Wirawan said.

The prosecutors have summoned at least 10 bombing survivors to
testify against the defendant. They are part of over 130
witnesses listed by the prosecutors.

"The first witnesses will tell the court about the destructive
impact on their lives," Bali Prosecutors' Office spokesman
Muhammad Salim said.

The prosecutors will also bring fellow suspects in the Bali
bombing to the court to testify against Amrozi.

Later in the day, the prosecutors submitted the indictments of
another four suspects in the Bali bombing. The indictments of
Abdul Rauf, Andi Hidayat, Andi Octavia and Junaedi were handed
over to the Denpasar District Court, along with 71 items of
physical evidence.

The group of suspects, named after their place of origin,
Serang in Banten province, were allegedly held responsible for a
robbery of a jewelry shop to finance the bomb attacks in the
packed resort area of Kuta last October.

The Oct. 12, 2002 blasts killed 202 people, mostly foreigners,
making it the worst terror attack in terms of casualties since
the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy in the United States.

Like other Bali bombing suspects, the four men are being
charged under the antiterrorism law, which carries a maximum
penalty of death.

Seperately, in Manado, British Ambassador to Indonesia Richard
Gozney said his government had not yet considered lifting its
travel advisory for the country's nationals to visit Indonesia,
citing the terror threats from the radical Jamaah Islamiyah
network, who remain active here.

Speaking to journalists during his visit to the capital of
North Sulawesi, Gozney said many Britons, including
businesspeople, were traumatized by the Bali bombing, which
killed 25 British nationals.

The police here accused Jamaah Islamiyah, which has apparent
links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, of masterminding the
Bali blasts.

Gozney said Britain was waiting for more serious measures by
the Indonesian government in dealing with the terror threats
before it completely lifted the travel advisory.