Jail sentences demanded for PDI demonstrators
JAKARTA (JP): A state prosecutor requested the Court yesterday to jail five supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted Chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party, for crashing into a police barricade during an anti-government demonstration in June.
The rally was held to protest the officially-backed PDI congress in Medan, in which Soerjadi ousted Megawati as the party leader.
According to Prosecutor Darwis Lubay, the defendants did not only defy police orders to disperse, but also broke through police ranks when the officers tried to block the way, going from the Party headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, to the National Monument.
The demonstrators planned to hold a mass prayer for Megawati, but security officers stopped them near the Gambir Railway Station, trying to disperse them.
The prosecutor sought one year's imprisonment for Herman Susilo, 22, for pushing through police ranks with a motorcycle, and stoning police. Edy Suwito bin Suyitno, 22, was arrested for hurling stones at the officers.
The court was also asked to sentence Rajim, 46, and Sutrisno, 30, to nine months in jail for breaking the police barricade with motorcycles, and Fauzan Nanang Prasetyo, 17, to seven months imprisonment for the same offense as Herman, stoning police and penetrating a police barricade with a motorcycle.
The session was adjourned until next week, giving lawyers time to prepare defense statements. Defendant Sutrisno, facing a possible nine months imprisonment, said he would read his own statement, however his reasons were not made clear.
Meanwhile, a related court session heard the cases of 12 Megawati supporters, of a total number of 124 arrested, tried in connection with the July 27 riot, with defense lawyer, R.O. Tambunan, calling the trial a farce.
Tambunan, the chief of the team of lawyers naming themselves Defenders of Indonesian Democracy, told the court his clients were not being tried because they have committed crimes, but for political reasons.
"They are tried because they are supporters of Megawati, whose political career the government has tried to ruin." he said.
The incident erupted when Soerjadi's supporters seized the PDI headquarters from Megawati's incumbents. The takeover sparked bloody riot, in which five people were killed.
The ousted chairwoman was present at the court hearing yesterday, apparently in a gesture to give personal support to her followers.
Megawati, dressed in red and black, the party colors, was accompanied by members of her executive board, and sister-in-law Levana Taufan Soekarnoputra.
Tambunan said the current trials are only a deception of government policy.
He reminded the panel of judges police officers did not try to stop Soerjadi's supporters from attacking the headquarters. "They even gave way to the assault which had been long prepared," he maintained.
At the end of the defense statement, Tambunan expressed the hope the judges would exercise their conscience.
"It's not because we, the defense lawyers, are skilled in the legal profession, but the arrogance of corrupt political power will show, because it smothers human endeavors for freedom," the lawyer said, trying to hold back tears.
Veterinarian, Sukartono Widjojo Putro, one of the defendants, told the court the defendants were actually the victims of attack by Soerjadi's supporters.
"Why should we bear other's crime?" he asked, pointing out most of the 124 defendants were injured, some seriously with concussion and broken legs.
He said police should bring the attackers, who caused the injury, to the court.
"They are the real people who were rampaging and causing the riot," he stated. (05/07)