Court reviews guilty verdict for Pakpahan

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were no longer applicable since they were made during the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)