First suspect in Marriott bombing stands trial

First suspect in Marriott bombing stands trial

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Sardona Siliwangi, 23, a man linked to the JW Marriott Hotel
bombing on Aug. 5 that killed 12 people and injured 147, went on
trial in the Bengkulu District Court on Wednesday.

This marks the first trial of a suspect in connection with the
hotel bombing in Jakarta.

Prosecutors Soediharjo and Zuhandi, who read out the 12-page
indictment, laid multiple charges against Sardona, who hails from
Bengkulu, Antara reported.

He is charged under Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism, the Criminal
Code and Emergency law No. 12/1951 for his alleged role in
helping the bombers store the explosives that were later used in
the Marriott blast.

The prosecutors told the trial, which was presided over by
judge Alzaman Sutopo, that Sardona stored the explosives, which
were contained in six cardboards and which it is alleged belonged
to Toni Togar alias Indra Warman, another defendant in the same
terror attack.

Before being brought to Sardona's home, the explosives were
kept in the home of another suspect, Suprapto, in Duri, Riau
province,

The explosives were later moved on Feb. 9, 2003, to Bengkulu
by suspects Dr Azahari, Noordin Mohammad Top, M. Rais and Asmar
Latin Sani.

In Bengkulu, Asmar then brought the explosives to Sardona's
house. By the end of last February, Sardona had been introduced
by Asmar to Azahari and Noordin.

The prosecutors said Sardona agreed to join Azahari's group,
but later withdrew, saying he had no time to participate in the
group's activities.

Azahari and Noordin, both Malaysian citizens, are accused of
organizing the Marriott bombing. They are currently being hunted
by the National Police. The two managed to escape arrest earlier
this month when police officers raided their rented house in
Bandung, West Java.

The police have captured two other alleged accomplices of
Azahari -- Thohir and Ismail -- who have also been charged in
connection with the bombing.

Noordin was said to have invited Sardona to learn how to
assemble a bomb, but he refused, arguing that he had no time to
learn about bomb-making.

On April, 26, Asmar and another bombing suspect, M. Iksan
alias Idris, retrieved the explosives from Sardona's home. The
explosives were later used in the bomb that was later detonated
at the Marriott Hotel.

In related development, Jakarta Police said on Wednesday they
had submitted the case file on Mustofa, 42, alleged to be a
senior figure in the regional Jamaah Islamiyah terror network, to
the city prosecutor's office.

"We have completed his case file and we took Mustofa and his
case file last Monday to the prosecutors," said Adj. Sr. Comr.
Tito Karnavian, the of the Jakarta Police's security
investigation unit.

"We charged him mainly with illegal possession of ammunition,
firearms and explosives in Semarang (Central Java)," he said.

The explosives and ammunition, which included two FN pistols,
19,000 bullets, 65 PETNs (high explosive devices), more than
1,000 detonators, timers, firing devices, four boxes of TNT, 11
rockets for hand-held launchers, and 900 kilograms of potassium
chlorate, were seized from a rented house on Jl. Sri Rejeki,
Semarang.

"Mustofa is the owner," Tito said.

Mustofa alias Pranata Yuda, Abu Tholut and Imron, confessed to
police investigators that he was a former head of JI's Mantiqi
Thalid, a JI command unit overseeing South Sulawesi, Sabah and
the Southern Philippines.

JI was blamed for the Marriott blast and the Bali bombings
that killed 202 people on Oct. 12, 2002.