Judge says Hendra's pretrial win doesn't mean early release

Judge says Hendra's pretrial win doesn't mean early release

JAKARTA (JP): Wanted suspect Hendra Rahardja may have won the
pretrial lawsuit on Friday that he filed against the National
Police Headquarters, but it does not mean that he will be
released from prison in Australia, the presiding judge said.

"The plaintiff has not been tried for his alleged crime in
Indonesia, so how can he be freed? Since his arrest in Australia
last year, he has not been tried (here)," presiding judge Abdul
Madjid told reporters, after he gave the shocking verdict at a
hearing in the South Jakarta District Court.

"This pretrial was not held to decide whether Hendra's alleged
actions were wrong or right. The lawsuit was filed to determine
whether or not the procedures of the Indonesian National Police
were correct in the case of Hendra Rahardja."

Lawyer Lt. Col. Alfons Loemau of the National Police
Headquarters separately shared Madjid's opinion, saying that the
court did not have the right to judge the legality of the
National Police warrant to arrest Hendra, since it was only a
pretrial.

Hendra, an older brother of escaped prisoner Eddy Tansil, who
is still at large after bribing wardens and walking out of
Cipinang Penitentiary four years ago, filed the lawsuit with the
district court earlier this month. It challenged the lawfulness
of Hendra's arrest by the Australian Police in Sydney on June 1
last year.

Earlier, judge Madjid told the hearing that the court accepted
the plaintiff's lawsuit because the Indonesian National Police
could not prove before the court that Hendra had been arrested
"due to his money laundering activities."

"Hendra's lawyer Farida Sulistyani gave the court a letter
from the Australian government that Hendra has never been listed
as having committed a crime in Australia," Madjid said.

In response to the court's verdict, lawyer Loemau said that
the National Police would not back down despite Hendra's victory.

"We will appeal to the Supreme Court within seven days. The
district court's verdict today (Friday) is a fine example of how
a court can violate the law. Hendra was arrested by the
Australian Police in Sydney, Australia," Loemau told reporters
following the verdict at the district court.

"This lawsuit should logically be filed in Australia. Hendra
was apprehended on a Red Notice, which was issued by Indonesian
Interpol and circulated through the Interpol network. But, he was
arrested in Australia. Not here," he said.

The Red Notice, Loemau said, was issued because Hendra, a
notorious and a wanted criminal, had fled the country.

When a criminal flees a country, he said, the concerning
country has the right to spread the information worldwide and
demand other countries arrest the criminal should they spot the
person and bring the fugitive back to the country he or she had
fled from.

"The Indonesian National Police has proof that Hendra
transferred funds worth A$500 million (Rp 2.5 trillion) to his
accounts in Australia, and that is why he fled the country in
November 1997, following the liquidation of two of his banks,
Bank Harapan Sentosa (BHS) and Bank Guna International," Loemau
said.

"Hendra is appealing in the Australian Federal Court in
Sydney, because he does not want to be extradited to Indonesia.
Being an Indonesian national, he does not want to bow before
Indonesian Law." (ylt)