Lawyers to sue police over Ba'asyir's abrupt arrest

P.C. Naommy and Blontank Poer, Jakarta/Surakarta

The team of lawyers for Abu Bakar Ba'asyir announced on Monday they would file a pretrial motion against the National Police for procedural violations in connection with their client's arrest last Friday.

"We are currently preparing the material, but soon, in two days at the latest, we will file our motion pertaining to the cleric's arrest in the district court," said Muhammad Ali, one of Ba'asyir's lawyers.

According to article 79 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code, a suspect, or his/her family, or his/her lawyer can file a motion with the district court to review the validity of an arrest or detention, stating the reasons for the review.

The head of Ba'asyir's team of lawyers, Mohammad Assegaff, said the police had not served the arrest warrant on their client until he had been taken into custody and placed in the police van.

Citing an article from the Criminal Law Procedures Code, Assegaff said the police should have notified the accused or his legal representatives of his impending arrest at least three days before being taken into custody.

"The police should, at least, have informed the warden of Salemba Penitentiary of their plan to rearrest Uztad Abu. We need such a notice to be able to prepare ourselves," said Assegaff.

He added that during the pretrial hearing, the lawyers would also demand that the police show them the prima facie evidence that they were using as the basis for the filing of new charges and the rearrest of the cleric.

In response to the lawyers' plan, Director Six of the National Police Antiterrorist and Bomb Division Brig. Gen. Pranowo said the police were ready to respond to the motion.

"We don't have to give a notice before arresting a suspect. If we did, the suspect could abscond before we had time to arrest him," said Pranowo.

He also said the police had already explained the six to eight procedural steps they had used in handling the Ba'asyir case to the cleric's team of lawyers.

The cleric's rearrest on Friday after serving 18 months in jail for immigration and document forgery offenses triggered a series of violent protests by Ba'asyir's supporters in different parts of the country over the weekend.

On Saturday, a protest over the cleric's arrest on the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) campus in Makassar degenerated into a riot in which at least 61 students were seriously injured.

On Sunday, a group calling itself the Surakarta Muslim Youth Alliance demonstrated in front of the Surakarta central police station against Ba'asyir's arrest and the action taken against the students in Makassar.

The leader of the group, Kholid Syaifullah, held a press conference on Monday to express their apologies to the police and the families of two civilian victims who were injured in the protest.

During the rally, hundreds of enraged protesters damaged the fence of the police station and hit the Surakarta Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Lutfi Lubihanto in the back. Two civilians leaving the police station were beaten, one of whom, Lukman, was knocked unconscious.

Assegaff said his lawyers would bring the Ba'asyir case and the violence that occurred in Makassar to the House of Representatives' Commission II for legal and home affairs on Tuesday.