Judges overrule Oki, trial to proceed

Judges overrule Oki, trial to proceed

JAKARTA (JP): The team of judges trying Harnoko Dewantono,
alias Oki, the alleged killer of three people in Los Angeles,
U.S., overruled the rebuttal of the defendant's lawyers
yesterday and decided to proceed with the full trial.

According to presiding judge IGK Sukarata, who gave his
intermediate decision in the Central Jakarta District Court, the
defendant's rebuttal was overruled because it included irrelevant
material.

He agreed with the prosecutors' reply to the defendant's
rebuttal.

He referred to Article 156(1) of the Criminal Code Procedure
about the material that should be included in a rebuttal. The
article says that a rebuttal only covers three things; the
court's jurisdiction to process a case, unacceptable indictments
and the cancellation of an indictment dossier.

"It is surely in the court's jurisdiction to process the case
because all Indonesians are subject to Indonesian Law, which
means all Indonesians who commit crimes anywhere in the world are
subject to Indonesian law," he said, referring to Article 5(1) of
the Criminal Code and Article 86 of the Criminal Code Procedure.

Sukarata also said that the team of judges accepted the
prosecutors' indictment and will proceed to the next phase of the
trial, on July 30 when the court will hear testimony from several
witnesses.

Oki, 32, is being tried for allegedly killing Indian Suresh
Gobind Mirchandani on Aug. 19, 1991, a young Indonesian woman
Gina Sutan Aswar on November 20, 1991, and Eri Tri Harto
Dharmawan, his own brother, in Los Angeles.

The courtroom was packed yesterday and the proceedings were
broadcast live by ANteve. (26)