Defendant implicates cop in defamation of Soeharto
Defendant implicates cop in defamation of Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): A student being tried here yesterday for
defaming President Soeharto accused a police witness of taking
part in the recent student demonstration by chanting strong-
worded statements against the government, apparently in an effort
to incriminate the demonstrators.
Yeni Damayanti told members of the Central Jakarta District
Court that Tahan Marpaung, a member of the investigation unit at
the Central Jakarta Police Precinct, had intentionally chanted
slogans attacking the government and the legislative council to
create the impression that those words were the students'.
Marpaung was on plain-clothes duty during the Dec. 14 protest
rally in front of the House of Representatives (DPR).
"I am very surprised to see this man appear as witness in this
trial," she told the court. "I thought he was one of the students
when I saw him at the demonstration. I saw him chanting the
slogans. Therefore, he mixed with us in order to slander us," she
said.
She said that the witness scrambled with the other students
and chanted phrases accusing the DPR members of doing nothing but
fulfilling their own interests.
"He was the provoker!" said Yeni, adding that there could no
longer be any guarantee that the strong-worded slogans that were
voiced in the demonstration were purely chanted by the students.
Marpaung, who refused to respond to the defendant's statement,
appeared in the hearing of the group of four students who are
accused of defaming the President by reading poems during the
rally.
There are three trials being held for the 21 students who were
arrested for staging a demonstration demanding that the People's
Consultative Assembly hold an emergency session to make Soeharto
account for a number of clashes between the civilians and the
military.
The other two trials have six and 11 defendants who are
charged of displaying banners and chanting slogans respectively.
Indictment
According to the indictment, the posters and slogans used by
the demonstrators amounted to defamation of the President.
Defamation of the President is a criminal offense punishable by
up to six years in prison.
Marpaung testified that the four defendants had read poems at
the rally, the contents of which were aimed at insulting the
President. However, he said that he had no idea why the young
people were arrested.
The witness said that he also took note of the poems read by
the defendants because he found the contents to be "interesting."
Yesterday's hearing was still colored by the defendants
protest on the heavy security measures applied in each session.
"There are so many intelligent officers who try to make
trouble at this trial. There are so many plain-clothed officers
here!' said Masduki, one of the four defendants.
Meanwhile, the judges who are trying the students in the group
of 11, decided yesterday to summon legislators Sabam Sirait and
Sri Bintang Pamungkas and linguist Arief Rachman to testify in
favor of the defendants at the next session.
The prosecutor has already presented his witnesses in the
trial.
Sirait, a senior politician from the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), recently testified in the trial of the group of six
saying that the students had every right to stage a demonstration
and express their opinion.
He told the court that the students were right to take their
demands, democracy and accountability at the DPR, because the
legislators are supposed to represent the people.
Two other government critics Ali Sadikin and Suyitno Sukirno,
have also testified for the defense. (par)