Megawati loyalists sentenced

Megawati loyalists sentenced

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced
yesterday 115 supporters of the deposed Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) leader, Megawati Soekarnoputri, to four months and
three days jail each for their involvement in the July 27 riot.

Another supporter received one month and ten days jail for the
same charge while eight were acquitted of all charges.

Those guilty were convicted for balking a police order to
disperse when security officers tried to break up a fight between
Megawati's supporters and those of her opponent, the officially-
backed PDI chairman, Soerjadi.

Megawati's supporters were occupying the party's disputed
headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, when hundreds of
Soerjadi's supporters attacked and tried to take over the office.

The defendants were all arrested and detained on the day of
the riots, which was exactly four months and three days ago, so
were freed yesterday.

The trials were conducted in two groups of five trials held
concurrently.

"You're free now," said one judge in one of the trials.

After the verdict was read in one of the sessions, a woman
identified as Sandra Fertasari Putri, 29, stepped forward and
shouted, "I cannot accept this, this trial is a farce."

She calmed down only after Megawati, who was present in the
court room, approached and consoled her. The woman was reportedly
sexually harassed during a police interrogation. This was not
raised in the trials.

The incident prompted others in the courtroom to stand and
surround Megawati.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the court house singing
patriotic songs and shouting "Mega shall win." The crowd created
congestion on Jalan Gajah Mada in Central Jakarta where the court
is located.

Unfair

Later, at her house, Megawati said the trials were unfair.

"The court twisted the facts," she said.

She said although most of the defendants were rounded up from
inside the PDI office they were accused of refusing to disperse
as police ordered.

R. O. Tambunan, who leads the defense lawyers' team, said
after the trial those convicted would appeal to the high court.
He lashed out at the court and said the trials were engineered.

He said the fact the sentences matched the defendants' time in
prison proved the trials were engineered.

Furthermore, all of the defendants walked free yesterday
despite differences in evidence and testimony given during the
trials, Tambunan said.

Simeon Petrus, a member of the defense team said the verdict
reflected political, rather than legal, considerations.

Simeon said none of the defendants or witnesses testifying for
them in court recalled hearing the police order to disperse or
leave the party's headquarters.

"The judges did not take into consideration the testimony by
witnesses for the defendants," he said. "We mourn the court's
stance."

Immediately after the session, one defendants shouted from the
court house: "We are not guilty. We are only victims of the
system."

During previous trials, Megawati's lawyers questioned why only
her supporters were being tried, and demanded Soerjadi's
supporters be tried too because they were the attackers on July
27.

The National Commission on Human Rights said five people were
killed and 124 injured in the riot while 23 people were missing.

Megawati said she had been maintaining her effort to
consolidate her supporters across the country.

When suggested she sit and negotiate peace with Soerjadi, she
said: "Personally, I don't have any problems with that. However,
as the party chairperson, I should consult my members first."

Megawati said it was unlikely the PDI would hold an
extraordinary congress to settle it disputes now that Soerjadi
seemed to have lost support in many areas.

"It (holding the congress) would be very difficult. It would
cause all parties, including the government, only troubles," she
said.

"An extraordinary congress would mean that the party has to
come up with a new leader. That's too troublesome," she said.
(05/imn)