Lawyer pleads for disco owner's release

JAKARTA (JP): The lawyer representing the owner of the Hailai discotheque yesterday urged the North Jakarta District Court to acquit him from charges of possession of marijuana and Ecstasy.

Amir Syamsuddin insisted that his client, HS, had no prior knowledge of the two marijuana cigarettes and seven and a half Ecstasy pills which the police found in his limousine in July.

HS, 38, was arrested along with dozens of other people during a massive anti-narcotic operation which was launched by police near the Hailai club in North Jakarta in the early hours of July 27.

Amir argued that if his client had owned the marijuana and Ecstasy, he would surely have thrown them away before the police had found them. He added that HS had had ample time to do this.

Reading a 36-page defense statement, Amir told the court that his client had retracted in court the incriminating statements he had given to police after his arrest.

He cited Article 189 of the Criminal Code Procedures which say that a statement to the police cannot be used against a defendant if a retraction is deemed reasonable and logical.

HS has earlier retracted the statement in court saying he had signed the document because he was tired and wanted the questioning to be over and done with.

Amir also cited inconsistencies in the testimonies given by the four police officers who had arrested his client. By example, he said the times of the arrest that were given by the officers differed. The officers had also interpreted the procedures for seizing the evidence differently, he said.

HS is believed to be politically well connected. But Judge Soetatmo Hadibroto has denied press speculation that this was why he is not being detained, unlike the other suspects arrested in the operation.

Wary of his client's reputation, Amir said yesterday that "this is probably the smallest narcotic case in the world, but its echoes have reached the entire archipelago, or probably the whole planet Earth."

Government prosecutors last week urged the court to sentence HS to six years imprisonment and fine him Rp 5 million. They called on the judges to ignore HS's retraction.

Chief Prosecutor Andhi Nirwanto maintained his demands yesterday, saying the only difference between him and the defense lawyer was "their way of seeing the facts revealed in the court."

Judge Soetatmo adjourned the trial until Sept. 19 when the court is to announce its verdict. (26)