Ginandjar still in cell at Attorney General's Office
JAKARTA (JP): Former mines and energy minister Ginandjar Kartasasmita continued to remain in his cell at the Attorney General's Office detention center on Tuesday, while his lawyers and supporters continued the struggle for his release.
Attorney General's Office spokesman Muljohardjo said prosecutors were still studying the court ruling on Ginandjar's detention to find out whether the judges really ordered the release of the suspect, who is a retired military officer.
"From April 9 until now, all that we have done is lawful, including the detention of the suspect. Moreover, we have adhered to the law that empowers state prosecutors to investigate and detain Ginandjar," he said.
The South Jakarta District Court ruled on Monday that all legal proceedings carried out by the state prosecutors before April 9 were unlawful, since a joint investigating team which should have included military prosecutors and military police had not been established for the investigation into the suspect.
Late on Monday, the lawyers filed a complaint with the National Police headquarters against the state prosecutors for impeding Ginandjar's release as, they claimed, had been ruled by the court.
"The Attorney General's Office abused a person's basic right to freedom," lawyer O.C. Kaligis told the press on Tuesday.
His colleague Mohamad Assegaf also handed a written request for their client's release to Deputy Attorney General for special crimes Bachtiar Fachri Nasution.
Separately, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said on Tuesday that National Police detectives were still examining the lawyers' complaint.
"We will question several law practitioners and experts as witnesses in this controversial matter," he said.
He added that the police needed clarification whether Ginandjar's detention since April 6 was lawful.
Meanwhile, Ginandjar's lawyer and best companion Muchyar Yara insisted on staying with him in the cell on Monday night, despite the fact that visitors were not normally allowed inside, except during visiting hours that ended at 6 p.m.
Two other lawyers from the military legal aid division and one bodyguard also insisted on accompanying Ginandjar inside the detention chamber, but the military police turned them away.
Almost four hundred people organized by youth organization Laskar Merah Putih gathered both inside and outside the Office compound, to voice their support for Ginandjar, a suspect in a corruption case.
The people came by bus from different parts of Jakarta -- some even claiming to be residents of Bandung, West Java.
But several of the people said they did not really know the reason why they had come to the Office.
"My neighbor asked me to come. I didn't have anything else to do so I came. I don't know why we came here," a man in his 50s, who lived in South Jakarta, said. Similar statements were also made by a young man from Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, and a teenager from Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
Ginandjar is accused of abuse of power, in his capacity as the minister of mines and energy, in several government contracts between 1992 and 1995, allegedly causing some US$24.8 million in losses to the state.
Separately, noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis deplored the district court's ruling, saying that it failed to reflect the government's efforts to reform the legal system.
"The court should not have used the old legal paradigm. It was the past (New Order) government's paradigm to protect military officers from investigation," he told reporters on Tuesday.
The judges, Todung said, remained trapped within the paradigm when they could have made a legal breakthrough.
"The Attorney General's Office indeed has the authority to conduct legal proceedings," he added, suggesting that the joint investigating team issue another warrant for Ginandjar to end the dispute with the lawyers.(bby/hdn/ylt)