Maya Sigit sentenced to 8 months in jail

JAKARTA (JP): The court sentenced on Thursday former president Soeharto's granddaughter-in-law Gusti Maya Firanti Noor, 29, to eight months in prison and fined her Rp 15 million (US$1,720) for possessing a small amount of crystal methamphetamine.

"Judges have been allowed to issue verdicts sending defendants addicted to psychotropic substances to a rehabilitation center for medical treatment, as regulated in Article 41 of the 1999 Law on Psychotropic Substances," presiding judge Sri Handojo said during the hearing at the West Jakarta District Court.

"However, due to the absence of a certain government regulation, we are not able to send (the defendant) to a center," he said, referring to Article 39 of the same law.

Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 39 stipulate that based on a permit issued by a minister, a defendant addicted to psychotropic substances can be sent to a rehabilitation center for treatment.

However, paragraph 4 of the same article states that for the defendant to be sent to a rehabilitation center, a government regulation, in addition to the permit from the minister, must be enacted, as stated in the initial paragraphs of Article 39. However, no government regulation has been enacted.

Maya, the wife of Soeharto's grandson Ari Sigit, was therefore sentenced to prison after judges found her guilty of possessing approximately one gram of shabu (crystal methamphetamine), a psychotropic substance, on June 22 this year.

The jail term was lighter than the one-year sentence sought by prosecutor Achjadi Sartono, who based his legal argument on Article 62 of the 1999 law. That article carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The defendant said she would appeal the sentence to the Jakarta High Court "within a week".

Judge Handojo said that despite harming society with her behavior, the defendant was truthful about her addiction and sincerely expressed regret over her behavior.

He added that judges also were moved to impose a lighter sentence by the fact the defendant has "three children who still loves her".

"She is very much in need of medical treatment to get off drugs, because she has confessed in court to still being dependent on them.

"She's suffering from lung problems, while her family also needs her care," Handojo said during the hearing.

Ari Sigit, who did not attend any of his wife's hearings, appeared on Thursday at the district court after the sentence had been announced and a van had taken Maya back to her cell at the Tangerang Women's Prison.

"If defendants carrying more than two grams (of shabu) can get off with less than eight months, why should she (Maya) get eight months?" he said to journalists before meeting with Maya's lawyers in the courthouse.

In similar drug cases, high-profile defendants have received much stiffer sentences.

The Military Court issued a ruling on June 22 -- the day Maya was arrested -- ordering Army Headquarters to discharge Second Lt. Agus Isrok from the military, in addition to sentencing him to four years in prison and fining him Rp 10 million for the possession of three small packets of shabu and a small packet of marijuana.

Agus, 25, the eldest son of former Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, was an active member of the Army's Special Force when he was arrested in August last year.

In the case of one-time actress Zarina Mirafsur, judge Sri Handojo sentenced her on June 29 to three years in prison and fined her Rp 7.5 million (US$882) for the possession of a small packet of shabu in October last year. (ylt)