Jail term demanded for accomplice in Matori case

Jail term demanded for accomplice in Matori case

JAKARTA (JP): Prosecutor Abdul Kamar Badrun demanded the South
Jakarta District Court on Wednesday sentence defendant Achmad
Tazul Arifin, 33, the man charged with complicity in the
attempted murder of National Awakening Party chairman Matori
Abdul Djalil, to a 12-year jail term.

"The defendant has testified in court that the intention (of
the attack) was murder and that it was preplanned," Abdul told
the hearing at the district court, presided over by judge
Munawir.

"He has violated Article 340 and Article 55 of the Criminal
Code on premeditated murder and complicity respectively, despite
the unsuccessful murder attempt."

The prosecutor added that the defendant had also violated
Article 1 of the Emergency Law No. 12/1951 on the illegal
possession of a weapon.

Article 340 carries a maximum penalty of a death sentence or a
20-year jail term. Article 1 of the Emergency Law No. 12/1951
also carries the death sentence or life imprisonment.

Police have yet to arrest the two main suspects in this case,
identified as Zulfikar and Assadullah, both of whom are rumored
to be dead.

The defendant had earlier told the police that he and his
friend -- the late Tarmo who had attacked Matori -- had acted on
the orders of Zulfikar, a person who allegedly knows the motive
behind the attack.

City police sources identified Arifin as a member of the
radical youth organization, Angkatan Mujahiddin Islam Nusantara
(AMIN), then based in Caringin Maseng subdistrict of Cijeruk,
Bogor.

The organization had allegedly provided military-style
training to its members and planned robberies on several big
banks and toll roads in Greater Jakarta to raise funds for its
activities and to purchase ammunition.

Arifin and the late Tarmo are suspects in the April 15 Bank
Central Asia (BCA) robbery last year which occurred following a
bomb blast at the Hayam Wuruk shopping center in West Jakarta.
Arifin then went by the alias Piping.

Abdul said that the damning factor was that the defendant had
endangered the life of a leader of the nation and was a threat to
society.

"The mitigating factors are that the defendant is honest and
the victim, Matori, has not demanded anything out of this court."

He also demanded the court return Matori's bloodied sarong and
undergarment which Matori was wearing when he was attacked on
March 5.

"The rifle used by the defendant should be seized by the court
and destroyed," he added.

Munawir adjourned the hearing till next Wednesday, when the
court will hear the defense lawyer's response to the prosecutor's
demand for a jail term.

Matori had earlier testified as a witness in the trial of
Arifin.

Police had confiscated a rifle, an FN gun and a homemade
revolver from Arifin's home in the Total Persada Raya housing
complex, Jatiuwung district, Tangerang on March 9.

Arifin has not said much about Tarmo alias Sarmo who was
lynched by several residents and ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers
in the Jagakarsa area for not paying for a ride shortly after the
attack. (ylt)