Four year sentence wanted for Bintang
Four year sentence wanted for Bintang
JAKARTA (JP): The public prosecutor asked the Central Jakarta district court yesterday to sentence outspoken politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas to four years in jail for calling President Soeharto a dictator.
Prosecutor Sitinjak told the panel of judges that the defendant, a former member of the House of Representatives, has been proven guilty of slandering the President in a discussion during a visit to a Berlin university last year.
Sitinjak stuck with his indictment that the transcription of a cassette proves that Bintang did mention presidents Sukarno and Soeharto as dictators.
He said 15 people witnessed the indictment.
The prosecutor said that the defendant wanted to slander the President. The accusation of the intention was based on the "theory of wish and knowledge", he said.
"Firstly," he explained, "according to the 'wish theory,' Bintang really wished that President Soeharto not to be re- elected for another term.
"Secondly, according to the 'knowledge theory,' Bintang has a full capacity of comprehending various problems in the country because of his versatile professions."
Sitinjak said Bintang was a legislator, a university graduate, a scholar, an activist in the United Development Party, and a member of the Association of the Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals council of experts.
He added that the fact that Bintang had made the statement in a foreign country makes him deserve a heavier punishment.
Adnan Buyung Nasution, who leads the team of defense lawyers, asked for a month to prepare their and Bintang's defense statements but the prosecutor said this would be too long.
"We have worked hard to prepare the sentence request within only a week," Sitinjak said.
"Don't compare us with you. You are paid by the government and have used of all its facilities whereas we finance our own work," Buyung said.
Bintang himself asked for the hearing to be adjourned for a month as he said that the prosecutor's statement contained many "manipulative nuances."
Presiding Judge Syoffinan Sumantri adjourned the session until March 27 to give time for the defense lawyers and defendant to prepare their defense statements.
Buyung said that it is incomprehensible why, after each hearing there were always activists from the Organizations of the Indonesian Ex-Servicemen's Children shouting at Bintang and wielding posters attacking the defendant.
"We have proof that they are paid for their activities," Buyung said. (16)