Govt defends Bintang's arrest

JAKARTA (JP): The government defended in court yesterday the arrest of rebel politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas as complying with the Criminal Code Procedures.

In a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, lawyers for the Attorney General's Office presented various documents such as arrest and detention warrants.

They also brought evidence in support of the arrest, including a letter from the Jakarta High Prosecutors' Office on the establishment of the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI), and the party's tabloid.

Bintang, through his lawyers, has filed a pretrial motion with the court challenging the way he was arrested.

On March 5, Bintang and two other PUDI co-founders, Julius Usman and Saleh Abdullah, were invited for lunch at a South Jakarta restaurant by the attorney general's intelligent chief Gatot Hendrarto to discuss the party's activities.

They were arrested after the lunch.

Bintang's lawyers have described the arrest as a "set up" and said it violated the Criminal Code Procedures.

Bintang, Julius and Saleh have been charged under the 1963 subversion law for PUDI activities, including sending Idul Fitri cards in which they called for a boycott of the May election and a rejection of President Soeharto's reelection in 1998.

Julius and Saleh were released Thursday, although the charges against them have not been dropped.

Judge Soedadi rejected a request by Bintang lawyers to call for witnesses. The hearing was adjourned until Monday when the judge is expected to make his decision.

The hearing was delayed when Judge Soedadi objected to the presence of Bambang Widjojanto of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation among Bintang's team of lawyers, after he learned that Bambang's license as a lawyer had expired in January.

The judge later agreed to let Bambang sit on the lawyers' bench but said that he could not speak in the hearing. (05)