Defendants in Bekasi rape case plead not guilty
Defendants in Bekasi rape case plead not guilty
JAKARTA (JP): Eleven men charged with the robbery and rape of Acan's wife and teenage daughters in Bekasi last July asked the court to acquit them yesterday.
They claimed they were not involved in the crime and had been forced to sign the testimony under police pressure.
"I signed the testimony because I could not stand the torture which I experienced day and night from more than 10 policemen since they the day they arrested me. They also threatened to shoot me," Bonen, one of the defendants, said in the Bekasi court, 30 km southeast of the capital.
Like Bonen, the other defendants, in three separate trials yesterday, asked that the court bring in a man named Amin to testify as a witness. They also demanded that the policemen who arrested and tortured them be summoned.
A source said yesterday that Amin is a prisoner the 11 met while in Bulak Kapal jail and who, they claim, knows what really happened.
"The previous witnesses were fake, they knew nothing. Why doesn't the court present Amin, who knows everything about the event and the others who took part in the crime," Bonen said.
Among the 28 witnesses who have been heard by the court are Acan's family members and the defendants, who testified in separate trials.
Yesterday, Bonen and his co-defendants read written statements detailing their activities during the night of the crime on July 24 in Cimatis village, Bekasi.
The defendants, aged between 17 and 23, were arrested in August on charges of having robbed the family and brutally raped Acan's wife and two teenage daughters. The case has provoked widespread public anger, and sympathy for the family.
The defendants also asked the court to reject the prosecutors' demand for a sentence of 16 years imprisonment.
"I would rather be shot or hanged and die at once than be in prison for a crime I did not commit," Iwan, one of the defendants, told the court.
One of the 15 defense lawyers, Petrus Bala Pattyona, told the court that since none of the witnesses ever mentioned anything about any of the defendants having been in Acan's house during the crime, the defendants should be released.
The lawyers said they objected to the defendants being presented as witnesses to testify against other defendants, which, they said, is against the law. They also doubted the accuracy of the medical examinations of the rape victims.
Unlike previous hearings, which took place in Bekasi's Civil Servants Hall, yesterday's session was conducted in the Bekasi court under tight security.
Dozens of police and intelligence officers were deployed to prevent another outburst of public anger as had happened during the pre-trial sessions in August. More than 100 people who wanted to attend the trials were required to present their ID cards before they could get an entry pass.
The trials were adjourned until Thursday to give the prosecutors time to prepare their arguments. (03)