Marsinah murder case takes a new twist

JAKARTA (JP): Businessman Judi Susanto, who was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment by the Surabaya District Court last June, has been cleared of all charges of killing labor activist Marsinah by the East Java High Court.

His defense lawyers Pieter Talaway and Trimoelja D. Soerjadi told The Jakarta Post last night that they had been informed by the High Court about the verdict that overruled the District Court's earlier decision.

Both lawyers told the Post in a telephone interview from Surabaya that they did not know when the High Court made the decision, but they received a copy of the official announcement yesterday. The original copy was sent to the Surabaya district court.

Pieter said that Judi Susanto left the Medaeng prison at 2 p.m. yesterday.

"I was not surprised with the High Court's decision. I have predicted that my client would be freed from all charges due to a lack of legal reasons to throw him behind bars for the death of the labor activist, Marsinah.

The Marsinah case was widely reported by both national and international media. Marsinah was found dead after leading a workers's strike at PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch-making factory in Sidoarjo, East Java, that was owned by Judi.

Marsinah's badly mutilated body was later found on May 9, 1993, in an abandoned shack near Nganjuk in East Java.

According to Pieter High Court, the presiding judge Sutarmiyati exonerated Judi, alias Kho Hi Ki, and ordered his immediate release from prison yesterday.

"We declare the defendant not guilty and free him from all charges," she said in the verdict as quoted by Pieter.

Besides Judi there are eight persons who were imprisoned by the District Court for their involvement in the murder case.

Pieter, however, said he had been informed that the Surabaya Prosecutor's Office will appeal to the Supreme Court against the High Court's verdict.

Neither Judi Susanto nor his wife Lina Melati were available for comment last night.

Lawyer Trimoelja also told the Post that the exoneration proves that Judi's alibi was indisputable.

"Judi claimed that he was in the company's other factory in Rungkut on May 5, 1993," Trimoelja said.

Meanwhile a director of the Jakarta-based Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) said in a statement here last night that the local police should re-open an investigation of the murder case.

Hendardi, director of communication and special program of the foundation, said that the East Java High Court's verdict was final. (imn)