Maya Sigit pleads for rehab, not jail

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)