Last student convicted in insult case freed
Last student convicted in insult case freed
JAKARTA (JP): The last of 21 students convicted of defaming President Soeharto during a demonstration at the House of Representatives in December 1993, was released yesterday after serving his fourteen month jail sentence.
Adi Kurniawan, from Darul Ulum University in Jombang, East Java, walked out of the Salemba Detention Center in Central Jakarta at 9:30 a.m.
Dressed in a black shirt and blue jeans, Adi's appearance ignited noisy cheers of welcome from fellow student activists, relatives and sympathizers waiting at the gate.
"Long live Adi, long live students, long live the people," the students shouted.
The crowd of well wishers was smaller than that of his fellow students released last year but Adi said it did not bother him.
"I am coming out of a small jail today, but entering an even bigger jail called Indonesia," he vehemently replied to their greeting.
Among the well-wishers were Adi's father, noted human rights activist H.J.C. Princen, members of the Pijar Foundation, and Adi's school mates.
Adi, a fourth year engineering student, told reporters that he would remain active in human rights promotion and protection but complete his studies as well.
Adi, saying that he had no regrets for what he did, joined his well-wishers in going to the House of Representatives to meet with legislators.
Adi was part of a group of 21 students who were arrested in December 1993 when they held a protest at the house in which they demanded that the People's Consultative Assembly call President Soeharto to account for government policy.
The 21 students were convicted by the Central Jakarta District Court in May last year for insulting Soeharto. The court then handed all 21 students six month prison terms, which meant they should have been freed on June 14 last year.
On the last day before their expected release, however, the Jakarta High Court, acting on an appeal from government prosecutors, upheld the guilty verdict and extended the terms to between eight months and 14 months.
The court argued that the terms were extended after finding the students guilty of contempt of court, saying that the students had used the court hearings for political propaganda.
Ten of the students, who were sentenced to eight months in prison, were released on Aug. 19, 1994 on a Supreme Court order. The Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation previously protested the court and their jail terms which should have ended on Aug. 14.
Two other students, Masduki and Hendrik Dikson Sirait, were released on Oct. 11, 1994. They were earlier sentenced to 10 months imprisonment by the Central Jakarta District Court.
Another four students, who had also served 10-month terms, were only released the following day.
The other four students, who had served one-year jail terms, were released on Dec. 15 last year.(imn/pwn)