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.