Defendant says they arrested the wrong man

JAKARTA (JP): A man on trial for defaming President Soeharto by printing an unlicensed magazine told the court yesterday that the court was trying the wrong person.

Defendant Andi Syahputra told the South Jakarta District Court that the prosecutor was not serious about doing his job and this resulted in his arrest.

He said in his defense statement that he was not responsible for the publication of Suara Independen but the organization which published it was.

Last week prosecutor D. Munthe asked the court to sentence Andi to four years in jail because he had been proven guilty of defaming Soeharto by printing the magazine. It contained a headline degrading the President and tarnishing his image.

Andi said that Australia-based Indonesian Society for Alternative Press had stated in a letter to his defense lawyer -- and shown to the judges -- that it was totally responsible for the publication.

The organizations' name and address were clearly printed on the magazine, said Andi, who had printed it four times.

Lawyer Irianto Subiakto told the court that the target of the police was not his client but the magazine.

"The real target was the ones who published the magazine but the police could not find them, so they nabbed Andi," he said.

Irianto added that the police only produced a warrant after his client arrived at the South Jakarta Police Precinct.

Andi said an order was placed by the Indonesian Society for Alternative Press to print 5,000 copies of the magazine, and he accepted the order for business reasons.

According to the defendant he had the last issue of the magazine printed at Zaiyan Putra printers because his own printing shop was busy.

Andi was arrested with the printery owner, Jazrul Zen, after police raided the printing shop and confiscated 3,000 copies of Suara Independen.

The defendant said he believed the arrest was a misunderstanding and somebody else should be held responsible, so he called his family to find a lawyer for him and Jazrul.

But, Andi said, Jazrul refused his offer. The businessman was later appointed a lawyer by the court, he added.

Andi said he knew that Jazrul was now free. "If he can be, so I should be," he said.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow to hear the prosecutors' statement on Andi's defense. (13)