Endin gets suspended jail term

Endin gets suspended jail term

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Endin Wahyudin, a defendant in a defamation case against two
Supreme Court justices, was sentenced to a three-month suspended
jail term with a six-month probation period at the Central
Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.

Presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria stated that Endin, 49, was
found guilty of defaming Marnis Kahar and Supraptini Sutarto, as
the defendant claimed he had bribed the two justices to influence
their decisions over a land dispute case.

Endin, a broker, had earlier said that late in 1988 he gave
the money to the justices, and another Rp 96 million to M. Yahya
Harahap, another Supreme Court justice who is now retired.

"The Attorney General's Office, along with the (now defunct)
Joint Anticorruption Team (TGPTPK) had promised to protect me,
but they sent me to this court. It's just not fair," Endin said
after the trial.

Endin, a witness in a bribery case involving Marnis,
Supraptini and M. Yahya Harahap, reported the case to TGPTPK
because the justices had guaranteed he would win his case, but he
still lost.

Marnis, Supraptini and Harahap were tried earlier this year
but the courts dropped the charges.

Separately, lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis regretted the verdict,
saying that it was a setback to the country's attempts to combat
corruption, collusion and nepotism in the judicial entity here.

The verdict reflected the judges' solidarity to protect their
colleagues, said Todung.

"People who know the (bribery) cases will be afraid to report
the crime to the police," he told The Jakarta Post, saying that
the government's statements to combat corruption, collusion and
nepotism were just buzzwords.

Todung urged the government to stipulate a law on witness
protection.