Lawyers charged with forging documents

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Tangerang Prosecutor's Office chief Himawan Kaskawa said on Thursday that a team of five lawyers representing three Africans being tried by the Tangerang District Court for possessing 5.6 kilograms of heroin had forged documents to free the defendants from the charges they were facing.

He said that shortly after the court released the defendants, Zimbabwean Kholison Nkomo and two Nigerians, Michael Titus Igweh and Hillary Chimezie, the prosecutor's office sent a letter to the Directorate General of Immigration requesting clarification over the identity of defendant Kholison Nkomo, who denied before the court that he was Kholison Nkomo as named in the indictment.

In a pretrial ruling on Feb. 5, the Tangerang District Court ordered the release of the defendants on the grounds that the prosecution charges were inaccurate.

The defendants were arrested in August 2002 for possessing drugs at a house in the Villa Melati Mas housing estate, Serpong.

When the trial began, the defendant Kholison Nkomo claimed he was actually Izuchwu Iberu Okolwaja from Nigeria.

A panel of judges presided over by Judge Permadi then ordered the lawyers to present evidence backing up the defendant's claim.

A team of five lawyers comprising Henri P. Siahaan, Rinawati Situmorang, Meliana Butar Butar, Bilher Situmorang and Peter Tarigan then managed to prove that Okolwaja was not Nkomo by presenting his passport and tax documents.

"In response to our query, the director general of immigration stated that Okolwaja's passport was fake," Kaskawa said on Thursday.

He said he could not understand why the court would so easily accept fake documents from the defendant's lawyers and acquit the defendants of all charges.

But as soon as the defendants were released from Tangerang Penitentiary, the police rearrested them and brought them to city police headquarters to face charges of document forgery. Defendant Nkomo, who was believed to have AIDS, died in the Police Kramat Jati Hospital on Sunday morning.