Foreign suspects to stand trial in Aceh

Foreign suspects to stand trial in Aceh

BANDA ACEH: A court on Monday will begin trying two foreign women who have been detained in Indonesia's Aceh province for more than two months, a judge said Friday.

Briton Lesley McCulloch and her American travelling companion Joy Ernestine-Sadler are accused of misusing their visas in violation of Indonesian immigration law, said judge Arsil Marwan.

Authorities allege that McCulloch conducted research and Ernestine-Sadler engaged in humanitarian activities not in keeping with their tourist visas.

A translator will be provided for the accused, who do not speak Indonesian, Marwan said.

"The trial will be carried out with one judge, me," Marwan said.

Indonesian trials are typically conducted by a panel of judges, but many criminal cases in Aceh have been heard by lone jurists because the province's long-running separatist war has contributed to a shortage of men and women able to hear cases.

McCulloch, until recently a university lecturer in Tasmania, has been a frequent contributor on the Aceh separatist revolt to Asian newspapers.

Prosecutors had talked of possible espionage charges against McCulloch after police claimed she had material linked to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels. They did not pursue espionage charges.

Both women have been held in a room at Banda Aceh police headquarters. --AFP