Defendant retracts statement made before police

JAKARTA (JP): One of seven defendants being tried for allegedly arranging a gambling den with noted youth organization figure, Yorrys Raweyai, retracted his preliminary statement made before police in West Jakarta District Court.

In the trial led by judge Ismail Sebayang on Thursday, Abidin, who testified as a witness for the trial of Yorrys, said he and the other defendants agreed to confess that gambling was played at the house when the police raided his storehouse on Jl. Daan Mogot 125, West Jakarta, on July 29 at 9 p.m.

"We all agreed to confess because we wanted to speed up the process of interrogation," he said.

During the police interrogation, Abidin said that he played Mah Jong, a popular card game among Chinese, with Bok Tjin Lin and Ng A Tjan while Yorrys, Sundoro Tan, Hadi Mustopa and Budianto played rummy.

However, Abidin denied the testimony of two police officers, who witnessed at earlier trial session, that the third floor of the storehouse was used as a gambling den.

Sgt. Markus, one of the two witnessing police officers, told the judge that on July 29, 8 p.m. he and five other officers were ordered by his superior to make a surveillance of the storehouse before the police took any further action.

Markus said he entered the storehouse by climbing the backyard wall using a portable aluminum ladder which could be lengthened to 15 meters.

Using the ladder, he said, the team watched the activities on the third floor.

"I could see the room was filled with people, some of them sitting around the table playing cards," he said.

However, Abidin said that there were no cards, money or gambling activities that night.

The gambling equipment confiscated by the police officers belonged to him. He had the equipment for about five years and used it sometimes.

Visitors

Court visitors were often reprimanded by the presiding judge to behave properly as they frequently yelled over Abidin's twisted and inconsistent statements.

Abidin said the rooms located on the third floor of his storehouse could only be used by him or his wife but he quickly changed his statement as the judge asked him about the presence of the other defendants in that room on July 29.

"Nobody enters that room unless they are invited," Abidin said changing his earlier statement.

The judge has adjourned the trial until Nov. 17. He ordered Yorrys and the other defendants to appear at the courthouse to hear the testimony of the other witnesses.

Yorrys, the day-to-day chairman of Pemuda Pancasila youth organization, along with 14 other alleged gamblers was apprehended on July 29 for allegedly organizing games of chance at the storehouse.

The police released seven of the alleged, of whom four were women, because they were not gambling when the police raided the house. But the other seven, including Yorrys, are being tried in two separate trials by the same judge and prosecutors. (mas)