Lawsuit revocation in gang rape case draws criticism

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman criticized yesterday the decision of the defense lawyers in a robbery and rape case to withdraw from a lawsuit against the Bekasi police just as the pre-trial session hearing of the suit was about to be concluded.

"It is their right to withdraw from the pre-trial procedures but it is not ethical for them to do such a thing when the pre- trial suit was about to reach its final stage," Oetojo told reporters after installing new senior officials of the justice ministry.

The minister installed Bagir Manan as the new director general of judicial affairs, replacing Saleh Baharis.

Oetojo said that his office would soon summon the lawyers for a meeting in relation to their withdrawal.

On Tuesday the four defense lawyers -- Petrus Bala Pattyona, Hendar Puji Astoro, Aidi Johan and Ismail -- withdrew from a suit against the Bekasi police on the ground that the authorities had failed to guarantee their safety.

Last week, the four lawyers were stoned, beaten and kicked by angry mobs during the last two sessions of the pre-trial hearings.

The lawyers said that the police and anti-riot troops had barely been able to protect them.

The court session on Tuesday was supposed to have been the final stage of pre-trial hearings of complaints that the Bekasi police illegally arrested the accused in the robbery and rape case.

Eleven accused were arrested last month on charges of having robbed a man named Acan and brutally raped his wife and two teenage daughters in a small, isolated village in the Bekasi area, 30 kilometers east of Jakarta.

Chief Justice Soerjono said withdrawal from a lawsuit being tried is legally permissible, rejecting suggestions that the lawyers' move had been in contempt of court.

Neither Soerjono nor Oetojo expressed any objections in relation to the lawyers' other request, that the robbery and rape trials be held in a court other than the Bekasi District Court.

"It is within the authority of the chief of the Bekasi District Court to propose a change of trial venue," Oetojo said.

"It is then a matter for the Supreme Court and the justice ministry to decide whether to approve the transfer request or not," Soerjono said. (imn)