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)