Istiqlal bomber may face 54 months jail

JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor requested the Central Jakarta District Court sentence defendant Surya Setiawan alias Wawan to four years and six months in jail on Thursday for his alleged key role in a bomb explosion on the ground floor of Grand Istiqlal Mosque in April.

"The defendant is guilty of possessing, carrying and detonating the bomb," said prosecutor Hasan Madani in a hearing presided over by Judge Rasjadi Salmun.

Hasan said the 26-year-old defendant had violated Article 1 of the 1951 Emergency Law, which carries a 20-year jail sentence.

He also said the defendant had persuaded other people to commit a crime, to bomb the mosque, a violation of Article 55 of the Criminal Code.

"The defendant bombed, along with his gang, the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia, which is also a source of Indonesian pride," prosecutor Hasan said while reading his indictment.

As a Muslim, the defendant bombed the mosque, instead of safeguarding it, said the prosecutor.

Last Friday, Judge Endang Sri Sumarsih of the same court sentenced two defendants to one year and six months in prison respectively for bombing the Ramayana department store on Jl. Sabang in Central Jakarta. They were found guilty of instructing an eight-member gang to bomb the store on Jan. 2 this year.

Prosecutor Hasan said the defendant was ordered to bomb the mosque by unidentified people in a meeting in a Toyota Kijang van parked at Gambir Station in Central Jakarta on April 14.

"A man, along with his four gang members, forced the defendant to do the bombing," Hasan said.

"The man, while holding up pictures of the whole defendant's family in the car, threatened to kill all his family members if he refused the order."

He said the defendant later agreed and held a meeting on April 15 in his boardinghouse in the state printing company Peruri housing complex in Sudimara subdistrict in Tangerang to discuss the bombing plan.

The meeting was attended by the defendant's friends Suradi, Atin, Rully, Semi, Jamhuri Litamahuputty and Anton.

At the meeting, the defendant promised his friends a certain amount of money and offered job opportunities if the plan proved a success, the prosecutor said.

"The six people agreed to the offer," Hasan said.

The unidentified man handed over a bomb in a movie theater in Ciledug, South Jakarta, on April 17, two days before the bombing, he said.

He said Wawan and Rully, another defendant, installed the bomb on the ground floor of the mosque, while five other people got into position within the mosque compound.

The bomb exploded right after the two people left the mosque. The explosion broke windows and severely damaged walls on the ground floor of the mosque. Five administrative staffers of the mosque were also injured, he said.

Judge Rasjadi adjourned the trial until next week to hear a statement from the defense. (asa)