Military police declare Agus a suspect
JAKARTA (JP): Just one day after a district court heard the testimony of Army Second Lt. Agus Isrok as a witness in a civilian drug case, military police prosecutors completed their dossiers on Agus and have declared him a suspect.
"We have resubmitted the dossiers of Agus Isrok to the Jakarta Military Prosecutor's Office. Agus has been declared a suspect," National Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Djasrie Marin announced on Tuesday.
The prosecutor's office sent the initial version of the dossiers back to the National Military Police Headquarters last month, after the office deemed the dossiers incomplete.
Djasrie said the suspect, who is an active member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), is currently being detained at the Kopassus headquarters in Cijantung, East Jakarta.
"Agus will be tried at a military court because he is a military member," he said.
The two-star general said Agus was suspected to have been involved in drug abuse and possession last August. Agus was arrested by the West Jakarta Police along with Donny Hendrian, in room 408 of Hotel Travel in West Jakarta on Aug. 8.
The police reportedly seized items in the room, including 1.6 kilograms of shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine), 6,218 ecstasy pills, 27.9 grams of heroin and 25 sachets of Valium pills.
Both Agus and Donny, who is currently being tried at the West Jakarta District Court, have denied possessing the drugs.
Agus appeared on Monday at Donny's trial hearing at the West Jakarta District Court as a witness, only one day after his father, former Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, vowed that he would not interfere in the investigation and prosecution process of his eldest son.
Djasrie denied there had been any pressure from Gen. Subagyo in regard to the prosecution of the officer, saying that the general had only asked him about the progress of his son's prosecution.
Gen. Subagyo, who is still an active military officer, is currently a military advisor to President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Asked why it took the military police headquarters five months to complete the dossiers, Djasrie said the headquarters had to carefully compile the dossiers, including revise some of the witnesses' testimonies.
Col. A.M. Ambong, head of the Jakarta Military Prosecutor's Office, said last week that the office sent the dossiers back to the military police headquarters after the headquarters had failed to describe in detail Agus' activities right before he was arrested by the police in the hotel room.
Col. Hendardji, the director of investigation at the headquarters, said last week that the military police's dossiers listed the suspect as Agus Isrok, not his alias Deky Setiawan, which had been used in the police report and the prosecutor's indictment.
Comment
Noted lawyer Denny Kailimang suggested that the indictment should be revised because listing a witness under a fictitious name would influence the verdict.
"The indictment should be revised, since the judge will always base his verdict on facts, such as witnesses' testimonies in the hearings and also facts stipulated in the indictment," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
He said a revised police report could be sent back to the prosecutor, as a legal basis for making a new indictment. "Then, based on the indictment, the court could start a new hearing of the case, and scrap the old process."
Kailimang, who is also one of the lawyers of former president Soeharto, lashed out at the police and the prosecutor over the case, saying that they had acted unprofessionally.
"Before receiving the report from the police, the prosecutor should have verified whether it was complete, including the identity of the witness," he said.
He conceded that the unprofessional manner of the legal community often ended in unfair verdicts.
"Some defendants are cleared of all charges because of such unprofessional habits. They may have brought losses to the state in the past," he said. (asa)