JP/8/G03

JAKARTA: A non-governmental organization monitoring the country's judicial processes demanded on Saturday that the Attorney General's Office change the composition of its team of ad hoc prosecutors assigned to human rights trials to ensure that fair trials would take place.

Judicial Watch cast doubt over the impartiality of the 22 state prosecutors sworn in last week due to the presence of two active military personnel in the team, which it said would be bad publicity for the whole trial process.

"The Attorney General's Office should replace the military prosecutors with senior civil prosecutors who have the integrity and the commitment to uphold human rights," said the watchdog's chairman A. Muhammad Asrun in a statement over the weekend.

The group also said that many of the civil prosecutors included in the team had dubious track records, while several had ignored the principles of justice in making indictments.

Judicial Watch suggested that the Attorney General's Office establish an expert team consisting of academics and legal experts as consultants to the team of adhoc prosecutors. -- JP