It's Tommy's trial, but judge talks about Akbar

It's Tommy's trial, but judge talks about Akbar

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The trial of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra resumed on Wednesday.
But presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria made use of the occasion to
defend himself for his failure to stop the war of words between a
lawyer for House of Representatives' Speaker Akbar Tandjung and a
prosecutor who is handling Akbar's case.

Tommy's case has nothing to do with the ongoing graft trial of
Akbar, it just happens that Amiruddin is the presiding judge in
both cases.

In Akbar's hearing on Monday, lawyer John Waliry and
prosecutor Fachmi called each other bangsat (bastard). But the
court did not immediately put an end to the argument, which
sparked criticism from legal observers who believed that the
incident was a contempt of court.

"I would like to comment on the bangsat incident. Critics said
that I was not firm in leading Monday's hearing... Should I have
taken off my robe and stopped the conflict physically or should I
have asked a guard to fire a shot?" Amiruddin said in a rising
voice soon after he opened Wednesday's hearing.

Visibly upset, he asked the critics not to comment on the
incident as they were not present in the hearing.

"It happened only for a few seconds and I had ordered them to
stop the argument," Amiruddin said.

Monday's incident occurred after John gave a comment on the
testimony of a prosecuting witness. John said it was auditio, a
Latin legal term referring to hearsay. The prosecutor said it was
not necessary to use the word, because the witness did not
understand what it meant. John said it was his chance to speak
but Fachmi said he had the right to speak because he was the one
who presented the witness.

John then shouted bangsat to chief prosecutor Fachmi, who
immediately returned the profanity.

They finally stopped hurling obscenities after Amiruddin said
the judges would walk out of the courtroom if they did not stop.

On the sidelines of the hearing, Amiruddin said that the
situation had been settled and both men had forgiven each other.

Meanwhile, Tommy's lawyers returned to court on Wednesday
after they boycotted the hearing last week due to the police
detention of their colleague, Elza Syarief.

Elza is accused of bribing two witnesses in the trial of
Tommy, who is accused of murder and illegal possession of
firearms.

The court heard the testimony from eight witnesses on
Wednesday, including two security guards of Tommy's rented house
in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta. The police found several
firearms, explosives, ammunition and documents in the house.