Court review on rejected clemency bid allowed

Court review on rejected clemency bid allowed

JAKARTA (JP): Chief Justice Soerjono is supporting a bid to
allow a court to review the case of three prisoners convicted to
death in East Java, whose clemency plea has been rejected by the
government.

Soerjono said there is no law forbidding a convict who has
exhausted all clemency efforts from requesting a court review.

"Every convict on death row has the right to apply for
presidential clemency. He/she can also ask the Supreme Court to
review the case," Soerjono confirmed.

He said that the laws on presidential clemency and on court
review do not prohibit convicts from making such last-ditch
efforts.

Soerjono was commenting on the case of Police First Sergeant
Djais Adi Prayitno, his wife Sumiarsih and their son Sugeng,
whose request for clemency has been turned down by the President.

The Surabaya District Court in East Java is currently
reviewing their case as requested by their lawyers. The three
were convicted of murdering Lt. Col. Purwanto and four members of
his family in 1989.

Their lawyers claim that preliminary trials of the case were
unlawful. They said that law enforcers were also involved in the
murder.

"In this interconnected case, the trial should have involved
both civil and military judges," Soetedja Djajasasmita, one of
the convicts' lawyers, once said.

Djais, Sumiarsih and Sugeng were convicted of premeditated
murder, which was apparently carried out because they owed the
policeman and his family members Rp 37 million (US$16,364).

The Surabaya district court was informed of the President's
rejection on July 24, which was then passed on to the
Prosecutor's Office.

Second Sergeant Adi Saputro, another convict and Prayitno's
son-in-law, has already been executed. (imn)