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)