More activists jailed for street protest
JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta District Court sentenced another 23 people to two months and 12 days in jail yesterday for ignoring a police order to disperse during a Feb. 11 street demonstration.
Several defendants were disappointed because the judges rejected their claims they were arrested elsewhere after the demonstration, which was held to demand the government lower prices of staple foods.
The convicts are understood to be supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairwoman who was ousted by a government-backed breakaway faction in 1996.
All 23 defendants will be released tomorrow because they have been detained since Feb. 12, equivalent to the length of their sentences.
The members of Barisan Merah Putih (The Red-and-White Front) were found guilty of failing to disperse after the police asked them to do so three times during the peaceful demonstration.
They held a rally from the Attorney General's Office in Blok M to the Ministry of Manpower on Jl. Gatot Subroto.
The judges sentenced four defendants in this trial who claimed they were arrested elsewhere on the grounds "they were involved in the demonstration".
Nurdin, 60, said he was arrested at his house in Tanah Tinggi, Central Jakarta, at about 6 p.m. on the day of the rally.
He told the court earlier that he joined the demonstration for a few minutes before proceeding home.
"Apparently, someone who didn't like me reported me to the police. Police officers came and picked me up without a warrant, and I object to it," he said.
Sandra, Fatiya and Petrus were arrested in a bus shelter near the site of the demonstration.
Fatiya earlier told the court that she was arrested after she joined a protest at the House of Representatives on Feb. 11 just a few hours after the rally dispersed.
"I was shoved onto a police truck. But police released me near the scene. I was then rearrested after a police officer found a T-shirt with a Megawati picture," she recalled.
The judges argued in their verdict that the three defendants were monitoring the demonstration.
The defendants were charged under two articles: Article 5 of the Law No. 5/1963 on political activities and Article 218 of the Criminal Code on ignoring police orders.
One of the judges, M. Amin, said the defendants were not guilty of committing political activities.
Nevertheless, dozens of relatives of the defendants and their supporters clapped every time the judges read the guilty verdicts, considered foregone conclusions by many.
Nurdin, Sandra, Fatiya and Petrus said they would consider appealing but the other defendants accepted the sentencing.
The court has sentenced 76 from 157 members of the group arrested for the demonstration. The sentencing of the remaining 36 defendants is scheduled for today and tomorrow.
About 35 of those arrested were released on Feb. 12 after paying fines of Rp 2,500 (30 U.S. cents) for joining the demonstration. In a short trial at City Police Headquarters, a judge ruled they were guilty of demonstrating without a permit. (jun)