`Mastermind' in Marsinah's killing gets 17 years in jail
`Mastermind' in Marsinah's killing gets 17 years in jail
JAKARTA (JP): The Surabaya District Court yesterday sentenced
a businessman to 17 years in jail after finding him guilty of
plotting to kill labor activist Marsinah last year.
The court said Yudi Susanto, owner of watchmaking firm PT
Catur Putra Surya, "masterminded" the killing of Marsinah and
paid five men Rp 1.5 million each to carry out the murder.
Yudi, 47 years old, is the eighth person to be convicted for
the murder.
The Marsinah death caused a huge controversy last year amidst
criticisms that the government was dragging its feet with the
investigation. It also raised speculation that Marsinah was
killed because of her labor activism.
Yudi's wife Lina Melati, who was following the trial from the
public gallery, broke into tears when presiding judge Soewito
read the sentence. Yudi, who has maintained his innocence
throughout the trial, appeared calm, according to the Antara news
agency.
Yudi's lawyer Trimoelya D. Soerjadi said his client plans to
appeal the sentence to a higher court.
"My client had nothing to do with the murder," Trimoelya told
The Jakarta Post by phone from Surabaya yesterday.
The trials of the nine people and the way they were arrested
last October raised almost as much debate as the murder itself.
All nine of them had retracted the incriminating statements
they gave to the interrogators saying that they were given under
torture. They also said that they were victims of a frame up to
take the rap for the murder committed by someone else.
Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found on May 9 in Nganjuk,
East Java, only days after she led a workers' strike at Catur
Putra Surya.
The prosecution argued that she was killed because she had
convinced the workers to go on strike and that she might even
have tried to blackmail the company by threatening to go public
with some classified information.
The panel of judges, while reading their verdict for Yudi
yesterday, said that the statements made by the co-suspects to
their interrogators were valid and it made no difference that
they had since retracted them.
Two domestic helpers who testified against Yudi also provided
additional evidence. They said they saw a number of men carrying
Marsinah into Yudi's house, who then tied, gagged and kept her
unfed for three days before she was killed.
The government prosecutors had earlier demanded a 20-year
prison sentence for Yudi.
He received the stiffest sentence among the eight already
convicted. One woman received seven months, three men got 12
years, two others got 13, and one man received 14 years.
One other man is still on trial and an army corporal is facing
a military tribunal for his alleged role in the murder. (rms/emb)