Noted lawyers to clash in court over 'Washington Post' case

Noted lawyers to clash in court over 'Washington Post' case

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Three noted lawyers will likely be involved in a court battle
following a complaint filed by Indonesian Military (TNI) chief
Gen. Endriartono Sutarto over an article published in The
Washington Post daily on the Freeport ambush, which killed two
Americans and one Indonesian.

Todung Mulya Lubis has been officially retained as the lawyer
to defend the Post in the case brought against the newspaper by
Endriartono, while the TNI Headquarters has retained Trimoelja D.
Soerjadi and Frans Hendra Winarta to take any necessary legal
action.

Todung called a news conference at his office on Monday to
express the newspaper's stance over TNI's decision to take legal
action against the publication, which Todung said would pave the
way for democratization.

Nevertheless, Todung said that "bringing the case to court may
not be a good choice".

"My client is ready to hold a dialog with the TNI chief in an
attempt to find the best solution for this case. The Washington
Post has never had any intention to discredit the TNI as an
institution nor Endriartono or other high-ranking military
officers," Todung said.

The Post ran a story titled Indonesian Military Allegedly
Talked of Targeting Mine by Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress on
Nov. 3, which reported that senior officers may have planned the
ambush against employees of PT Freeport Indonesia in Timika,
Papua on August 31.

The article said that prior to the ambush, several high-
ranking military officers, including Endriartono, allegedly
discussed an operation against Freeport, with the ultimate aim of
discrediting the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM).

The paper claimed that the article was based on information
provided by "highly reliable" sources and was supported by other
information, that included "an interception of a conversation",
which was shared by Australia with the United States.

The TNI has denied the report, saying that it was an attempt
to discredit the military.

The military previously declared itself innocent and blamed
the attack on the OPM.

The military, nevertheless, has appeared inconsistent in its
claim and this was especially evident with the arrival of an
investigative team in Papua last Wednesday "to probe allegations
of TNI involvement in the incident".

Endriartono called the Post's report libelous and last week
officially demanded the newspaper to make a public apology,
"otherwise we will see them in court".

Endriartono also said that the TNI planned to sue the Post for
US$1 billion in damages for its article should the paper not
apologize within two weeks.

Todung, however, called on the TNI to reach an out-of-court
settlement, noting that the Post had kept to its principles in
running the story.

"If we look carefully at the story, we will find that The
Washington Post has fulfilled all the criteria of the
journalist's code of ethics, which includes covering both sides,
by inserting the denial of TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie
Sjamsoeddin," said Todung, who represented Time magazine in its
legal battle against former president Soeharto.

Soeharto sued Time for its report detailing his wealth,
including owning accounts in several banks in Switzerland. Time
won the court battle.