Military court to go ahead with Agus case
Military court to go ahead with Agus case
JAKARTA (JP): Judges at the Jakarta Military Court ruled on
Thursday that the court would continue the trial of defendant
Army Second Lt. Agus Isrok on the grounds of a legal
technicality.
They rejected the demand aired by the defendant's lawyers in
the previous hearing that Agus, a member of the Army's Special
Force (Kopassus), be tried in a civilian court, instead of the
military one.
"In an alleged wrongdoing committed together by a civilian and
a military officer, each defendant will be separately prosecuted
at the civilian court and the military court respectively,"
Presiding judge Col. Sarman Mulyana told a pretrial hearing at
the Jakarta Military Court in Pondok Kopi, East Jakarta.
He quoted Article 143 of the 1999 Law on the Amended 1970 Law
on the Principles of Judicial Power, which stipulates that a
military officer must be prosecuted in a military court.
"The defendant cannot be prosecuted in a civilian court
because he has since the beginning been investigated by the
military police and indicted by the military prosecutors," he
said.
The judge was commenting on the grounds provided by the
defendant's lawyers that the defendant allegedly committed his
crime along with a civilian accomplice, Donny Hendrian.
Donny was sentenced to nine years and six months in jail by
the West Jakarta District Court earlier this month.
Some 30 attendees, mostly military court staff and
plainclothes military members, packed the courtroom during the
one-hour hearing at the military court.
Also present at the hearing, which started at 9 a.m, were the
defendant's lawyers, including Col. A.B. Setiawan and Lt. Col. A.
Affandi, and military prosecutors Maj. Bambang Aribowo and Maj.
P. Situmorang.
Agus, the oldest son of former Army chief Gen. Subagyo
Hadisiswoyo, and Donny were arrested by city police detectives
during an early morning raid at a hotel in West Jakarta last
August.
The police confiscated from the hotel room 1.6 kilograms of
shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), 6,218 ecstasy pills, 27.9
grams of heroin and 25 sachets of Valium pills, along with a bag
of drug paraphernalia.
In the indictment, the military prosecutors accused Agus of
possessing and carrying narcotic and psychotropic substances.
They said the police seized two small plastic bags of shabu-shabu
and marijuana, packed in a matchbox, from Agus' trouser pockets.
Judge Sarman also rejected the lawyers' request that the case
be dropped, saying that the indictment was incomplete because it
failed to mention the weight of the drugs seized from Agus.
"The military prosecutors mentioned the weight of the drugs in
the military police's criminal laboratory report.
"The indictment is complete as it has mentioned the place, the
chronology and the time the alleged wrongdoing was conducted," he
said.
The presiding judge adjourned the hearing until Friday to hear
testimonies from witnesses. (asa)