`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)