Man sentenced to 21-years jail for attack on embassy

Man sentenced to 21-years jail for attack on embassy

JAKARTA (JP): A 35-year-old man was sentenced on Wednesday to
21 years and four months in jail for hurling a grenade into the
Malaysian Embassy compound and illegal possession of a grenade.

Iwan Setiawan, a small-scale entrepreneur, was tried in two
separate trials on different charges.

In the first case, he was found guilty of throwing the grenade
into the embassy compound in August last year and was sentenced
to 15 years in jail.

In the second case, he was sentenced to six years and four
months in jail for illegal possession of a grenade, which was
found on him when he was arrested by police last September in
Cilandak, South Jakarta.

Two other defendants, Saifan Nurdin and M. Mudin, were also
tried in connection with the grenade attack on the Malaysian
Embassy. They received a sentence of 12 years and six months in
jail each.

Iwan sat with his head bowed when presiding judge Sofyan Royan
read out the verdict in his first case.

Iwan, in his plea, denied any wrongdoing and said all the
charges made against him were fabricated by the police.

He also retracted his statements in his affidavit, saying the
police had intimidated him into saying them.

Justice Sofyan said the defendants were found guilty of
throwing the grenade into the embassy compound, disrupting
national stability and causing public distress.

The fact that the defendants had failed to appear at several
hearings was taken by the judges as an aggravating factor in
deciding the sentence.

A grenade was thrown at the parking lot of the Malaysian
Embassy last year, causing minor damage.

There were no casualties in the incident.

The sentences handed down to the three defendants were lighter
than demanded by the prosecutors. The judges said in the verdict
that the sentences were lighter as the defendants were young and
had families to support.

In a trial in June, the prosecutor demanded a 17-year jail
term for Iwan and a 14-year jail term each for Nurdin and Mudin.

Behind bars at the South Jakarta District Court, Mudin
regretted the sentence.

"I didn't commit the crimes I have been charged with. I was
merely a rental car driver who knew nothing about the incident,"
he told The Jakarta Post.

One of the defendants' lawyers, Heppi Sebayang, from the
Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said the
defendants would appeal to a higher court.(06)