Man gets eight years over Bandung bombings

Man gets eight years over Bandung bombings

BANDUNG (JP): The Bandung District Court sentenced on Thursday
Aceng Suhari, one of defendants tried for last year's Christmas
bombings in Bandung, to eight years imprisonment.

The verdict was three years higher than the prosecutors'
demand.

"As the owner of the house where the bombs exploded, it was
impossible for the defendant not to be aware of activities
conducted in the house. The defendant had tried to defy the law,"
Judge Hazli Saleh said when reading the verdict.

Aceng, 52, is the owner of the house on Jl. Antapani No. 43
and No. 45, where the bombs exploded on Dec. 24 last year. Four
people were killed in the blast.

The defendant's wife and daughters burst into tears upon
hearing the verdict.

"The defendant violated Paragraph 1 Article of the Emergency
Law No. 12/1957 for illegally possessing explosives," the judge
said.

"Based on the witnesses' testimony, the defendant also
violated Article 188 of the Criminal Code."

"The defendant had failed to report to the police the
activities of a group of people in the house. He worsened the
situation by joining Iqbal, the main defendant in the case, in
fleeing soon after the blast on Dec. 24, 2000," judge Hazli said.

Both were arrested in the town of Brebes, Central Java, in mid
January.

In his own testimony at previous court hearings, Aceng claimed
that the shop-house was rented to Iqbal, his former Koranic
recital teacher.

The court will hand down the verdict for Iqbal on Monday.

Aceng claimed he had been victimized upon realizing that those
people had produced bombs in the house.

Following to his lawyer's suggestion, Aceng told the court he
wanted to appeal.

After the session, his lawyer, Melani, said that the judge had
been unfair. "None of the witnesses were for the defendant."

Two other defendants Roni Miliar, 21, and Agus Kurniawan, 23,
got nine years each for their role in the bombings. (25/sur)