High Court upholds Amrozi's death sentence

High Court upholds Amrozi's death sentence

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

The Denpasar High Court has decided to uphold the death sentence
handed down to Amrozi, the first person convicted in the Bali
bombings, but his defense lawyers vowed to appeal the decision
yet again to the Supreme Court.

"We just received the authorized copy of that decision today,
although the High Court had come to that decision on Friday,
Sept. 12," Denpasar District Court secretary Markus Takaria said.

In its decision No. 48/Pid.B/2003/PT.DPS, a panel of Denpasar
High Court judges stated that they had found Amrozi bin Nurhasyim
guilty, legally and beyond any reasonable doubt, of committing a
criminal act of terrorism.

Amrozi, dubbed as the smiling bomber, was sentenced to death
on Aug. 7 by the Denpasar District Court for "planning,
conspiring, and organizing" the Oct. 12 Bali bombings, in which
at least 202 people were killed and over 300 others injured,
mostly foreign tourists.

The bombings, the worst act of terror since the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks on the United States, were blamed on Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI), a Southeast Asian terrorist network with links to
international terrorist group al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden, the
chief suspect in the New York and Washington attacks.

JI has also been allegedly linked to a bomb attack at the JW
Marriott Hotel in Jakarta last month in which 12 people were
killed.

Amrozi, who showed no remorse during the trial and even
expressed satisfaction over the deaths of all the foreigners,
welcomed the death sentence. However, he authorized his lawyers
to file an appeal to challenge the verdict with the Denpasar High
Court.

His appeal was reviewed by a panel of five High Court senior
judges presided over by I Made Tara.

There was no information available on the proceedings of
Amrozi's appeal nor on the deliberation of the judges, which led
to their decision to turn down the appeal.

In the Indonesian criminal justice system, the proceedings of
an appeal at the High Court are conducted solely by the appointed
High Court judges without the presence of the prosecutors,
defendant, or defense lawyers.

Amrozi's chief lawyer Ahmad Wirawan Adnan stressed that he
would immediately submit an appeal motion to the Supreme Court to
dispute the Denpasar High Court's decision.

"We expected it (that the High Court would turn down the
appeal). But, we did not expect that the appeal process in the
High Court would be this fast. Usually it takes years before the
judges reach a decision on an appeal, " he said.

Adnan was convinced that he would get a better chance to
present his argument in the Supreme Court, where the proceedings
of an appeal would require the presence of the prosecutor, the
defendant, and defense lawyers.

He said he was not quite sure whether the High Court had
informed his client of the result of his appeal.

"I believe that the court will send a copy of the decision to
Amrozi," Adnan said.

Another key defendant in the Bali terrorist attack, Abdul Azis
alias Imam Samudra, was also sentenced to death by the same court
last week.