Legislators hail death penalty for drug dealers

Legislators hail death penalty for drug dealers

TANGERANG (JP): Legislators lauded the Tangerang District
Court for imposing the death sentence on nine drug traffickers,
including five foreigners, over the past seven months.

Eight members of the House of Representatives' Commission II
on legal affairs expressed their support for the verdicts during
a visit they paid to the court on Wednesday.

"It is important input for Commission II to learn that the
court has imposed such stern punishment on nine drug dealers over
seven months," Hamdan Zulvan, who led the delegation, told The
Jakarta Post after meeting with district court President Haogoaro
Harefa and his colleagues.

He said the Commission was surprised to learn that the court
handled at least 10 drug cases every month.

He added that this figure might just be the tip of the iceberg
as most such cases did not get as far as court.

The Tangerang District Court passed the death sentence on Nar
Bahadur Tamang and Bala Tamang on Jan. 25, 2001, Til Bahadur
Bandari and Bir Bahadur Gurung on Feb. 12, 2000, Thomas Daniel on
Sept. 9, 2000, Deni Setia Maharwan on Augt. 2, 2000, Meirika
Franola on Aug. 22, 2000, Rani Andriani on Augt. 22, and Samuel
Iwu Chekwu Okoye on May 5, 2001. The first four defendants were
Nepalese, while Okoye is African. The four others are
Indonesians.

When asked about the Commission's stance on alleged rampant
corruption in the court, Zulvan said the Commission had received
similar reports about almost every court in the country.

"Nobody's arguing about it. Therefore, we warn the court
president not to let his judges become contaminated by such
practices, which are also rampant in almost all government
institutions," he said.

Meanwhile, Harefa told the Commission members that since
January the court had ruled on 480 criminal cases out of the 550
cases submitted to the court. More than 50 percent of the cases
involved drug offenses.

The court had also handed down verdicts in 80 out of the 164
civil cases before it since January.

He added that the court had received a good response from the
public and non-governmental organizations regarding the death
sentences passed on drug traffickers.

The judges had not received any threats in connection with the
verdicts, he added.

Haogoaro said that the court left matters concerning the
execution of those on death row to the prosecutor's office.

He said the court had appointed two judges to monitor the
convicts' conditions in jail. (01)