Govt defends Bintang's arrest

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)