Judge asked to free mentally ill defendant

JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer has suggested the Central Jakarta District Court free defendant Anwar Budiman, 25, from all charges of possessing and selling 3.87 kilograms of dried marijuana.

Amudi Sidabutar said on Wednesday that he had adequate evidence to prove that his client was mentally ill.

"Dr. Sukristoro Wardoyo, who once treated Anwar at the Banda Aceh Psychiatric Hospital, confirmed in a written statement that Anwar was mentally ill," Amudi told The Jakarta Post after the hearing of his client's trial.

According to the lawyer, Anwar was treated in the hospital in December last year for two weeks.

During that time, he added, the doctor was asked to go to the hospital to control him.

Anwar said he also had written evidence from the Bogor Psychiatric Hospital stating that Anwar was once treated there for several days in November last year.

"He once drank his own urine," the lawyer quoted Anwar's brother Lukman Hakim as saying.

The lawyer said he would use Article 44 of the Criminal Code, which allows a defendant to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for one year probation if the defendant is proven to be mentally ill.

According to Amudi, both judge Chasiyani Tandjung and prosecutor M. Syafe'i insisted that Anwar was mentally healthy based on the fact that the defendant, so far, was able to give clear answers during the court hearings.

"They are now waiting for the letter from the Bogor Psychiatric Hospital to confirm his mental illness," he said.

During the hearing on Wednesday, prosecutor Syafe'i presented his case and demanded the court sentence Anwar to six years and six months in jail, plus a fine of Rp 500,000 (approximately US$68) for violating Article 81 of Law number 22/1997 on narcotics.

According to the article, those found in possession of grade one drugs, including marijuana, could face a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 750,000.

Anwar deserves to have a lighter sentence because "the defendant has never been sentenced by the court and he has admitted all his mistakes", Syafe'i said.

The defendant reportedly confessed to collecting the marijuana from Indrapuri district in Aceh Besar regency, Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra. After being told the high street price of marijuana in Jakarta by friends, he apparently brought the marijuana by bus to Jakarta in mid April.

The police arrested Anwar, who was on his way to his brother's home in Bekasi, in front of Sentral Hotel on Jl. Pramuka at midnight April 14.

Dressed in a scruffy white shirt and brown pants, Anwar asked the court for a lighter sentence.

"I admit I am guilty, but I don't want to do it anymore," he told the Post after the trial.

Presiding judge Tandjung adjourned the trial until next Monday to hear Amudi's defense statement. (asa)