JAKARTA (JP): Four student activists from Irian Jaya were each

JAKARTA (JP): Four student activists from Irian Jaya were each
sentenced to three months and 25 days in jail for joining a
demonstration outside the Dutch Embassy and the U.S. Embassy on
Dec. 1, 2000.

The verdict for Yoseph Wenda, 28, Mathius Rumbrapuk, 31, Laun
Wenda, 24 and Hans Gobay, 23, was read out by presiding judge
Andi Sansan Nganro in Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday
afternoon.

However, the defendants would not be required to go to jail as
they had been detained from Dec. 2, 2000 to March 26, 2001, or
for a period of three months and 24 days.

The prison term was shorter than prosecutor Maju Ambarita's
demand of eight-months imprisonment.

The judges gave the defendants a lighter sentence as the
primary charges of subversion were not proven.

"There was no indication of subversion in this case," Andi
remarked.

He said the defendants had violated Article 154 of the
Criminal Code by showing hostile intentions against the state in
public.

This was particularly based on the fact that instead of
staging the demonstration at national institutes connected with
the issue, they did it outside foreign embassies, according to
the verdict.

The right to demonstrate, Andi said, was allowed here based on
Article 28 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of
expression.

However, the judges viewed that the defendants had voiced
their opinion in an unbalanced way and that what had been done by
the defendants was "too much".

Some mitigating factors considered in the handing down of the
verdict were that the defendants were still young and as
university students, they were expected to develop Irian Jaya,
after the completion of their studies.

The other factor was that the defendants had apologized.

Last year, more than 500 pro-independence Irianese student
activists from Java and Bali held a demonstration outside the
Dutch Embassy and the US Embassy, to celebrate what they claimed
to be the 39th anniversary of the declaration of independence in
Papua.

It was also aimed at revealing the poor conditions under which
people lived in the province. The students had demanded for more
attention to Irian Jaya.

The activists gave speeches outside both embassies shouting
their demands.

During the rally, they carried two flags symbolizing the
rising star, which is known as the flag of Free Papua. They also
carried banners that read "Free Papua" and "this is not red and
white, this is the rising star".

More than 20 Irianese students, who came from Salatiga,
Semarang, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Jakarta and Denpasar, attended
Tuesday's trial to show their support for their colleagues. They
looked relieved after hearing the verdict.

However, the defendants' lawyer, Azas Tigor Nainggolan,
insisted that they would appeal.

"The defendants deserve to be freed of any charges," he told
reporters after the trial, adding that the defendants were only
expressing their opinion in public, which was not a crime. (04)