Death sentence sought for two Nigerians

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Prosecutors asked the Tangerang District Court on Monday to sentence two Nigerian men to death for the possession of 5.8 kilograms of heroin in Serpong, Tangerang.

Prosecutors R. Vidianto and Puji Raharjo said the defendants, Michael Titus Igweh, 24, and Hillary K. Chimezia, 27, had been proven guilty of possessing the heroin.

The two defendants were arrested in August 2002, one at a house in Vila Melati Mas Regency and the other at the Kelapa Gading Tower Apartments in Serpong.

The arrests were made based on information from Marlena, 24, an Indonesian woman who had been detained earlier with 50 grams of heroin in her possession.

The case also involved Marlena's boyfriend Kholisani Nkomo, alias Icuhku Eberu Okolwaja, a Zimbabwean.

The trial of the two Nigerian suspects began after Marlena died on Dec. 17, 2002, at the Soekanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, from lung disease. Kholisani Nkomo died at the same hospital in March 2003 of an AIDS-related illness.

Prosecutors charged the defendants with violating Article 82 of Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics, which carries a maximum penalty of death, and Article 55 of the Criminal Code on organized crime.

Nkomo, Igweh and Chimezia were first tried in three separate trials in January this year. However, a panel of judges presided over by judge Permadi ruled on Feb. 6 that all charges against the defendants be dropped because of inaccuracies in their dossiers.

The police rearrested the suspects immediately upon their release and refiled charges against them.

The second trial for the two Nigerian suspects began on June 20, with the same prosecutors and judges.

Presiding judge Permadi adjourned the trial to Oct. 6.

The Tangerang District Court has sentenced 22 drug dealers to death and one to life in prison since January 2000.