Lawyer's gun causes court turmoil

JAKARTA (JP): The hearing of a lawsuit against Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairman Soerjadi deteriorated into a scuffle yesterday after one of the defendant's lawyers took a gun into the courtroom.

The Central Jakarta District Court was hearing a lawsuit filed by 124 supporters of ousted PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputri. They are suing Soerjadi, his cadres and former Central Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira for the forced takeover of the party's headquarters on July 27 last year.

The takeover led to a riot which claimed five lives and left 23 people missing.

Yesterday's scuffle between plaintiffs, court visitors and lawyers began after a visitor shrieked that Maj. R.M. Panggabean, a lawyer representing Abubakar, had a gun holstered on his belt.

"There's someone carrying a gun into the courtroom," the visitor shouted.

Judge Panto Alboin Sianipar immediately ordered a court security officer to examine Panggabean, who then handed over his gun.

Unsatisfied, a group of Megawati supporters approached the bench and yelled at the judge.

"Doesn't he know that it's prohibited to bring guns into the courtroom?" one supporter demanded.

Other visitors shouted at the lawyer, accusing him of ignoring the Criminal Code.

In the ensuing confusion, the judges and defense lawyers fled the courtroom.

Outside, presiding Judge Abas Soemantri admitted that the lawyer had broken court procedure. "That's why we have reprimanded him," he said.

Before the incident, the court heard that the number of plaintiffs had been reduced to 78.

Dwi Ria Latifa, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the number had fallen because it had been difficult to get the signatures of all the original plaintiffs because they lived in different parts of the country.

The amount of compensation demanded by the plaintiffs was reduced to Rp 9.8 billion (US$3.96 million). They had originally demanded Rp 12.4 billion in damages.

The plaintiffs' lawyers have lodged a protest over the gun being taken into court. They said Panggabean's act was tantamount to intimidating the court. (05)