Courts fail to act when witnesses do not show

Courts fail to act when witnesses do not show

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The law clearly stipulates that anyone who is summoned as a
witness in a court session is obliged to testify. But judges do
not seem to care if a witness fails to appear at a trial without
a legally justifiable reason.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra failed to testify in the trial of
his accomplice Dody Hardjito for the second time at the South
Jakarta District Court last week.

The prosecutor did not give any reason for Tommy's absence,
and presiding Judge Tusani Djafri did not ask. He simply told
prosecutor Ismanto to summon him again for the next session on
Tuesday.

Tommy is not the only witness who has failed to testify before
the court. In fact, the absence of a witness is nothing new here.

In Dody's case alone, there were six witnesses who failed to
testify. One witness, Hetty Siti Hertika claimed she was sick,
while the other five gave no reason.

When a witness fails to appear in court, the presiding judge
usually orders the prosecutor to read the witness' statements
made earlier before the police or the prosecutor investigators.

According to the law, a witness is obliged to fulfill the
summons, unless he or she has a legally acceptable reason, such
as the witness is seriously sick, is out of the country or
performing state duties.

Tommy was first scheduled to testify two weeks ago in the
trial of Dody, who has been charged with helping Tommy to murder
Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita. But at that
time, prosecutor Ismanto said he could not present Tommy for
security reasons. He said he had asked the police to help provide
police escort from the Cipinang penitentiary, where Tommy is
being detained, to the court. But the police did not respond to
the request.

There was no explanation for Tommy's failure to fulfill the
second summons.

Topo Santoso, a lecturer of the school of law at the
University of Indonesia, and lawyer Irianto Subiakto of the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute criticized the court for allowing the
witnesses to ignore the summons.

"To testify before court is an obligation, it's not a choice.
There's no reason for a witness to ignore a summons unless the
law says so," Topo said.

Both Topo and Irianto asserted that judges have the authority
to use force to bring a defiant witness before the court.

Should a witness, who has been summoned three times, refuse to
testify before a criminal hearing without any legal reason, the
court could send him or her to jail.

"I've never heard of a court here using force to summon a
witness, let alone punish them," Topo said.

According to Irianto, the fact that witnesses can easily
ignore a summons to testify in a hearing reflects the lack of
respect people have for the judiciary.