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)