Maya Sigit pleads for rehab, not jail

JAKARTA (JP): Drug defendant Gusti Maya Firanti Noor, wife of former president Soeharto's grandson Ari Sigit, pleaded on Tuesday that she be put in a rehabilitation center instead of jail.

Reading out her defense, Maya's lawyer, Asfifudin, told the West Jakarta District Court that the defendant had suffered "mental and emotional trauma," since her arrest in June this year, for possession and use of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine).

"In her written defense, she says she is very much disturbed and is suffering in police detention, and that a jail term will not help her, or Indonesian society, with her drug problems. She feels she needs immediate rehabilitation," Asfifudin said, while Maya sat with her hands over her mouth, breathing lightly.

The hearing was presided over by judge Sri Handojo.

"She says her children are suffering due to her arrest, and that they have had to tolerate whatever the public says about their mother. She wants to lead a healthy life with her kids."

The court then adjourned the hearing till Thursday when the judges will hear prosecutor Achjadi Sartono's response to the defendant's pleas and set a date for the verdict.

Earlier, Achjadi asked the district court to sentence the defendant to just one year in prison for possession and use of psychotropic substances.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

"The defendant violated Article 62 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances. I demand the court sentence her to a one-year jail term, and, in addition, impose a fine of Rp 20 million (US$2,300)," Achjadi told a previous hearing at the court.

In response, the 29-year-old defendant, known as Maya Sigit, bowed her head.

Judge Handojo closed the initial hearing by asking the defendant if she was ready to be admitted into a rehabilitation center, at her own expense. The defendant replied that she was. (ylt)