Drug suspect fails to attend trail

TANGERANG (JP): Tangerang prosecutors failed to present the defendant in a major drugs case who was due to be sentenced by Tangerang District Court on Thursday.

Instead, Chief Prosecutor Asnawi submitted a certificate from a physician to the panel judges which recommended that the defendant rest for a day.

Presiding judge Silverster Djuma told The Jakarta Post that he had, in fact, given the defendant one week's leave so that he could really enjoy his rest before he was sent to jail.

"It's all right. But if the defendant is still sick on July 25, I don't care. I'll read the verdict out even if the defendant is lying on a stretcher before the bench in this courtroom," he vowed.

The defendant, Robert Kenken, 32, a resident on Jl. Mangga Besar 11, Tangki subdistrict, Central Jakarta, was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport on Nov. 2, 1999 for smuggling 40 kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) along with precious stones into the country from Hong Kong.

Prosecutor Asnawi had earlier charged the defendant with violating Article 61 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances, which carries a maximum punishment of 10-years imprisonment.

However, later, Asnawi reduced his demand to a 5-year jail term after hearing testimony from seven witnesses. (01)