Defendant retracts his retraction in Syafiuddin case

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Confronted by a police investigator, an accomplice of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra admitted at the South Jakarta District Court that he had retracted his earlier statement as he had been intimidated by the police during questioning.

Defendant Dody Hardjito told the hearing repeatedly that the police had forced him to implicate Tommy in the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita in July last year and in the illegal possession of firearms found in a raid in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.

He had claimed that the police had hit him, stubbed a cigarette on various parts of his body and had bit his right ear.

However, while presiding judge Tusani Djafri asked about the scars, Dody said, "There is no scar, Your Honor, as I washed my body with "pearl water" in the interrogation room (in the Jakarta Police headquarters). The water made the scars disappear."

Visitors of the court laughed at hearing Dody's answer.

"I am telling you the truth, the water could cure scars. All detainees at the headquarters said that," said Dody, trying to convince the judges.

Finally, Dody admitted that the police did not torture him after the court presented witness Capt. Joko Purwadi, the officer who questioned Dody from Aug. 6 to Oct. 19 last year.

"There was no violence. The defendant was accompanied by his lawyer during the questioning," Joko asserted.

Prosecutor Ismanto will present his sentence demand to the court next week.

Dody, who is being tried for his alleged part in the murder of Syafiuddin, was arrested on Aug. 6, last year following a raid on a rented house in Pondok Indah. The police found several illegal firearms and bullets, believed to have been used to shoot Syafiuddin dead.

In the house Dody rented under Tommy's orders, the police also found a map showing Syafiuddin's address and those of two other justices, who had sentenced Tommy to an 18 month jail term for graft in 2000.

Tommy is being tried separately for allegedly masterminding the murder.