Language problem forces court to adjourn drug trial

Language problem forces court to adjourn drug trial

JAKARTA (JP): Lack of a translator forced judges at the West
Jakarta District Court on Wednesday to adjourn for a second time
the preliminary hearing of two Ghanaians arrested for drug
possession in June.

Presiding judge A.L. Rungngu said at the opening of the
hearing that prosecutor Baza Telambanua should inform the
Ghanaian envoy in writing that M. Lowaito and Bernard Okeke were
on trial and request that the country provide a translator for
the continuation of the hearing.

"Prosecutor Baza should notify Ghana's government
representative here that two of its citizens will be tried here,"
Rungngu said.

"The letter to the Ghanaian government representative should
also include a request for a native Ghanaian translator's
assistance in the case."

Rungngu said the representative should provide a translator
conversant in both the Ghanaian official language and Indonesian.
English is the official language of the West African country but
dialogs such as Twi and Fante are widely spoken.

"We should uphold the principles of objectivity during the
hearings. It can be achieved only when the prosecution is carried
out in the language which the defendants can understand," he
said.

Judges seemed unaware of the official language status of
English in Ghana and that both defendants speak the language
well.

Rungngu insisted that the trial be carried out in Indonesian.

"We must highly respect our own language," he said.

Baza told the judges that he failed to find a suitable
translator despite a weeklong search.

"It may take longer. I have been waiting for approval from my
superior, the head of the Jakarta High Court, who will convey the
message to Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Baza said
after the hearing.

He added that it would be the responsibility of the ministry
to inform Ghana's diplomatic representative about the case.

Tokyo office

Baza said the delay in the hearings would only extend the
detention period of the defendants.

"The two defendants have been detained for three months, and
they might serve longer if the judges insist on us obtaining an
answer from the Ghana's representative office here," he said.

Ghana's diplomatic mission for the Asia Pacific region is
located in Tokyo.

Baza was scheduled to read his indictment at Wednesday's
hearing. Lowaito and Okeke were present, accompanied by their
lawyers H. Hosen Aho and John Kalangit.

A legal observer condemned on Wednesday the delay in the
trial, saying the judges were showing inordinate tolerance toward
the defendants.

"Our law rules that anybody violating the laws here could be
tried before the court," the head of the criminal division of the
Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, Daniel
Pandjaitan, said.

Article 2 of the Criminal Code stipulates that anybody accused
of committing a crime in Indonesia is subject to Indonesian laws.

Rungngu adjourned the hearing last week because Baza failed to
present approval from Accra's representative office to try the
two.

Hosen Aho said city police officers arrested the Ghanaians for
alleged possession of 200 grams of cocaine during a raid at Hotel
Pintu Besar in West Jakarta in June.

Rungngu adjourned the trial until Oct. 20 to hear the
prosecutor's indictment. (asa)