Harborers of Bali bombers get jail term
Harborers of Bali bombers get jail term
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
The Denpasar District Court sentenced on Wednesday three more
people to jail for harboring and assisting Bali bombers while
they were fugitives.
Sukastopo, Eko Hadi and Puryanto received three years, four
years and four years and eight months respectively in separate
trials after judges found them guilty of obstructing the police's
investigation of the bomb attacks -- which killed 202 people and
injured more than 300 in the popular tourist resort of Kuta in
Bali on Oct. 12 last year.
The sentences were among the lightest of the 21 verdicts
handed down so far in the trials of those responsible for the
blasts -- considered the worst terrorist strike since the
September 11 attacks a year earlier. There are still eight
suspects waiting to hear their verdicts, while judges are
preparing the trial of four other suspects.
"The defendant is also guilty of withholding information
on terrorism," presiding Judge IB Jagra said of Sukastopo.
Jagra said, Sukastopo had information on the whereabouts of
Ali Imron -- one of the main suspects -- but had failed to
report it to the local authorities.
Remorseful Imron was sentenced to life imprisonment last
month, while his brothers Amrozi and Ali Gufron, and the other
main suspect Abdul Aziz alias Imam Samudra will face the firing
squad.
After consulting his lawyer, Sukastopo told the panel of
judges that he would not challenge the verdict.
"The defendant indeed feels guilty about failing to notify the
authorities of the information he had. He has been in custody for
almost a year so he will have to serve the rest of his sentence,"
Sukastopo's lawyer Suyanto said.
In a separate trial, presiding judge Tjokorda Rai Suamba
sentenced Sukastopo's son Eko Hadi to four years in jail for a
similar offense.
The judges said Eko Hadi, a senior high school student, was
found guilty of helping Puryanto to find a hiding place for Imron
and another suspect Mubarok on the isolated island of Berukang in
East Kalimantan.
Meanwhile, Puryanto bin Timin alias Hartono was
sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for allowing
Imron and Mubarok to take refuge in his house.
The sentencing of another accomplice, Mujarot, was postponed
until Monday.
Both Eko Hadi and Puryanto said they needed more time before
deciding whether to accept or appeal the sentences.
Separately, the lawyers of Amrozi submitted an appeal to the
Supreme Court over his death sentence which has been upheld by
the Bali High Court.
The appeal was filed with the Denpasar District Court.
Amrozi was convicted in August by the court for having
purchased one ton of bomb-making chemicals and the van used to
carry the deadliest of the two bombs.
In the appeal, Amrozi's lawyers said their client was guilty
only of possessing the explosive materials but not of having
helped plan the bombings.
The persistent appeal attempts seem to contradict Amrozi's
expression of his readiness to die. Upon hearing his verdict the
mechanic literally gave two thumbs up to the death sentence
imposed on him.
Two other convicted bombers Samudra and Ali Gufron have also
appealed their death sentences, while Imron has asked for the
President's clemency.