Maluku separatists get 3 years

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Ambon

The North Jakarta District Court sentenced two separatist leaders in absentia on Tuesday to three years in prison for plotting a rebellion in the war-torn province of Maluku.

Alex Manuputty and Semmy Waileruny, both Christians, were found guilty of "an act of subversion aimed at dividing the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia", presiding judge I Wayan Padang Pujana said.

The verdict was passed down on Alex, chairman of the separatist Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), and co-defendant Semmy despite a protest from their lawyers who demanded the trial be postponed because their clients did not show up.

Prosecutors had sought five-year sentences for the pair, who have been on trial since June for campaigning for an independent state in the Maluku islands, where about 6,000 people have been killed in three years of sectarian conflict.

The defendants were also proven guilty of establishing FKM and hoisting the banned flag of the Republic of South Maluku (RMS), Padang told the court.

However, Alex, 55, and Semmy, 45, remain free as both convicted separatists would appeal the verdict to a higher court.

The two returned home to the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon on Jan. 7, several days after their detention period expired on Dec. 27 and before the court could issue a verdict. Under the law, a defendant must be set free if a court cannot issue a verdict within six months.

Alex said he and Semmy had not been told by the authorities about the verdict.

"I will resist the verdict in a nonviolent way," he told AP without elaborating.

Alex earlier told The Jakarta Post that he and Semmy had refused to return to Jakarta to attend the trial because the government had refused to provide them with living expenses of Rp 210 million while they awaited a verdict in the capital.

Militant Muslim group Laskar Jihad leader Ja'far Umar Thalib is due to be sentenced on Thursday by the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of inciting renewed violence in Maluku.

Alex and Semmy were arrested in Ambon on April 17 after encouraging their followers of the small and poorly supported FKM to hoist banned separatist flags.

The group wants the government to allow a referendum on self- determination akin to a UN-supervised plebiscite held in East Timor in 1999.