Court reviews guilty verdict for Pakpahan
JAKARTA (JP): The East Jakarta District Court began a hearing yesterday to review the guilty verdict against labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan for his alleged role in worker unrest in Medan in 1994.
Pakpahan filed for a review of his case, saying he had new evidence to support his claim of innocence.
The court heard yesterday Pakpahan's petition and the response from government prosecutor H.P. Marpaung.
The Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) has seen its fortune seesawing in the current legal battle.
Pakpahan was first convicted by the Medan District Court in 1994 for inciting a riot in Medan and received three years' imprisonment. The Medan High Court later upheld the guilty verdict and added four more years to the sentence.
Pakpahan was found guilty of violating Articles 160 and 161 of the Criminal Code for inciting people to riot.
In 1995, the Supreme Court's panel of judges, led by Adi Andojo, overturned the verdict and ordered the release of Pakpahan, who was then freed on May 19 of that year.
The panel argued that the two articles used to indict Pakpahan were no longer applicable since they were made during the colonial era.
But just over a year later, on Oct. 25, 1996, then Chief Justice Soerjono overturned Adi Andojo's ruling on grounds that there were mistakes in the implementation of the law. Pakpahan was again sent to prison to serve his sentence.
Yesterday was Pakpahan's first appearance in public since his hospitalization in March for a lung tumor and appendicitis.
He was accompanied by a team of lawyers, which included Mohammad Assegaf, Bambang Widjojanto, Lutfi Hakim and Dwi Ria Latifa.
Doctor Ramli Tambunan and nurse Kasmiati from Cikini Hospital were also at yesterday's proceedings.
Reading his petition, Pakpahan told the court that new testimony would show SBSI was not responsible for the April 14 and April 15, 1994 riots.
He argued that SBSI members had received a letter from SBSI secretary-general Siti Musdalifah, dated March 25, calling for the cancellation of all planned labor strikes from April to October of that year.
Yesterday's hearing was adjourned until Monday to hear the testimony of new witnesses in support of the new evidence.
Pakpahan is also facing another trial on the charge of subversion, based on a series of alleged antigovernment speeches he gave last year.
That trial has been postponed since March due to Pakpahan's ailing health.
Pakpahan is currently seeking an independent medical team to determine whether he should be allowed to go abroad for a lung imagy fluorescence endoscopy treatment, which is unavailable in Indonesia.
Kompas quoted Junior Attorney General Ismudjoko yesterday as saying that Pakpahan did not require a third opinion from an independent medical team. (05)