Death sentence sought for two Nigerians

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.