High court receives appeal on Soeharto case

High court receives appeal on Soeharto case

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta High Court received on Monday the
appeal of the prosecutors and a counterstatement from the lawyers
of former president Soeharto in response to the South Jakarta
District Court's verdict which halted the trial of Soeharto's
graft case due to his ailing condition.

Both the appeal and the counterstatement were delivered by a
clerk, Dimyati, to the South Jakarta District Court. Both
documents were received by Esther Mongan, a clerk to the Jakarta
High Court.

Spokesman for the high court, M. Siahaan, said his office
would not delay the deliberation of the prosecutors' appeal which
requested that the high court annul the district court's ruling.

"We'll prioritize this case and soon establish a panel of
judges to handle the case.

"Based on other similar cases, a decision can be expected
within two to three weeks," Siahaan told journalists at his
office.

He, however, said that the high court might take a longer time
to try the Soeharto graft case given the uniqueness of the issue.

"The case is unique because the court had dropped the charges
against Soeharto even when the indictment had yet to be read out
before the trial. Such an appeal from the prosecutors has yet to
have a legal basis," Siahaan said.

"I think the high court's decision will be mostly based on the
judges' interpretation of the case. If any parties cannot accept
the high court's ruling, they are free to file an appeal to the
Supreme Court," he added.

Paragraph 3 of Article 156 of the Criminal Code Procedures
(KUHAP) stipulates that the prosecutor can file an appeal against
the court's verdict. Meanwhile, the trial of Soeharto had not
formally begun as the indictment had yet to be read out in any of
the district court's hearings.

The South Jakarta District Court, presided over by Judge Lalu
Mariyun, halted the trial of Soeharto on Sept. 28, after
listening to the medical opinion of an independent team of
doctors, which stipulated that Soeharto was mentally and
physically unfit to stand trial.

The judges then returned the indictment to the prosecutors due
to the latter's incapability to present Soeharto at all three of
the scheduled hearings due to his ill health.

Soeharto has been accused of mischanneling US$571 million from
the state into businesses belonging to his family and cronies
through seven charity foundations he chaired.

The prosecutors filed the appeal on Oct. 5 requesting that the
high court annul the lower court's ruling and order it to reopen
Soeharto's trial on the grounds that the judges had failed to
take into account the people's sense of justice.

Meanwhile, the lawyers' counterstatement stipulated that the
prosecutors' appeal was improper and unlawful.

The lawyers argued that the appeal only reflected the
prosecutors' inconsistency as the latter had insisted on setting
up an independent team of doctors, but in the end refused to
accept the doctors' opinions.

Siahaan hinted that the Soeharto graft case would not be
automatically reopened even if the panel of judges decided to
annul the district court's ruling.

"The high court could possibly rule that the district court's
ruling was improper and should be revoked.

"The high court will not instruct the district court to
continue the trial," he said, citing that the continuance of the
trial should be regulated by a different ruling. (bby)