More students released from prison

More students released from prison

JAKARTA (JP): Four more students were released from jail
yesterday after serving their term of conviction for insulting
President Soeharto last December.

Thanks to the intervention of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Foundation (YLBHI) Muhammad Rifki, Antonius Leroy John Ratag and
Suwito Ngateman walked out of Salemba detention center while
Mandri Sri Martiana left the Pondok Bambu correctional
institution for women yesterday, .

They served an extra day because of confusion about the
precise terms of their punishment. The Supreme Court had earlier
said their 10 month prison terms end on Oct. 14 and they would be
out the following day.

YLBHI, however, stressed that the terms refer to 10, 30-day
months, which means they should have been freed on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court corrected its position yesterday and ordered
that the four be released.

The four students were from the 21 who were convicted in
Jakarta for insulting President Soeharto during a demonstration
at the House of Representatives. Five are still serving their
terms. (yns/emb)