Lawyers monitor trials

JAKARTA (JP): A team of lawyers from the International Bar Association (IBA) and the International Commission of Jurists will arrive in Jakarta this month to observe the trials of local activists.

Roger Smith, a spokesman for IBA's Human Rights Institute, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that a different observer would be sent each week to monitor the trials in Jakarta and Surabaya.

"At least one Supreme court judge from Australia, John Dowd, will be coming out as will the president of IBA," Smith said.

Subversion charges have been slapped on nine activists of the obscure Democratic People's Party and leader of the unrecognized Prosperous Labor Union Muchtar Pakpahan in Jakarta. In Surabaya, three activists are also standing trial on the same charges.

Prosecutors have charged them with intending to replace the state ideology Pancasila and topple the legitimate government.

Under the Indonesian legal system, subversion is one of the most serious offenses, carrying a maximum penalty of death if the defendant is found guilty.

In its Oct. 23 conference in Berlin, the Human Rights Institute expressed deep concern over the use of the subversion law against peaceful pro-democracy and labor activists in Indonesia.

Smith said the Human Rights Institute was seriously concerned the suspects would not receive a fair trial "given the current political atmosphere." (pan)