Oki, suspect in triple slaying, to stand trial

JAKARTA (JP): The trial of Harnoko Dewantono, who is accused of the 1991-1992 triple murder in United States, is scheduled to begin early next month after a long delay.

"We're now in the final stage of our preparations prior to the trial," a senior official at the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutors' Office, who refused to be named, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said preparations include getting a medical report on the psychiatric status of the defendant to determine his mental fitness to stand trial. The office also needs a statement from the American embassy and has to make arrangements for the arrival of a number of witnesses from the United States.

Earlier, the spokesman for the prosecutors' office, Pontas Pasaribu, said that the dossiers on Harnoko Dewantono, who is known as Oki, would be handed over to the Central Jakarta Public Court next Monday. The dossiers document his alleged involvement in the three murders.

The Prosecutors' Office has reportedly sent a letter requesting that the American embassy here confirm that the alleged actions of the suspect are classified as crimes in the United States.

"We need such a statement from the U.S. government to legalize the trial of a crime allegedly committed by an Indonesian citizen overseas as stipulated in Article 5 of our criminal code," the prosecutor said.

The article states that an Indonesian citizen who is charged with committing a crime overseas can be tried under Indonesian law only if the action in question is also regarded as criminal in the country where it occurred.

"We hope that we can receive the letter of reference from the U.S. embassy in the next few days," the source said.

Oki, 32, is accused of killing his natural brother Eri Tri Harto Darmawan, 26, his female friend Gina Sutan Aswar, 28, and his Indian business colleague Suresh Michandani, 45, on separate occasions in Los Angeles in 1991 and 1992.

The decomposing bodies of the three people were discovered in a storage locker by the Los Angeles, California, police in late December 1994. They had been placed there four months before the discovery.

Gina had been reported missing two years earlier.

Following the discovery of the corpses and a through investigation, the Los Angeles police named Oki as the main suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Oki was arrested in Central Jakarta in January 1995.

So far, it's not clear yet whether Oki confessed to committing the triple murder during a series of questioning sessions conducted by both Jakarta and Los Angeles police detectives at the Jakarta Police Headquarters here in January 1995.

It was the Los Angeles Times which initially reported the case in late 1994. The report quoted local police as saying that two of the three victims had been beaten to death, while the other one was shot.

In Indonesia, reports of the deaths of the two Indonesians and the Indian first appeared in Forum Keadilan in its Jan. 5, 1995 issue. The weekly linked the homicides to the death of a young businessman in the house of actress Ria Irawan here in early 1994 and a Los Angeles-Jakarta drug syndicate.

In the early days after the arrest of Oki, high-ranking Indonesian officers were forced to intervene in the process of determining where the trial would be held. Relatives of Gina and the Los Angeles police wanted Oki to be tried in the United States.

"We can't understand why the authorities here are refusing to send the suspect back to the United States," said a sister of Gina. She added: "How could they decide to try him in an Indonesian court if the crime allegedly occurred in Los Angeles."

A few weeks later, the government announced that the trial would take place at the Central Jakarta District Court.

After the announcement, the Jakarta police received packages of evidence collected by the L.A. police.

The trial next month is expected to be quite interesting and to draw a great deal of attention from the public because a total of 16 people from the U.S., including L.A. detectives, will be presented as witnesses, together with 14 other locals.

The trial will also present 10 expert witnesses from the U.S. and another one from Jakarta.

According to spokesman Pontas, the team of prosecutors for the trial will be headed by J. Kamaru, who will be assisted by M. Jamin, Widyo Pramono and M. Yusuf.

If found guilty Oki will face the death penalty. (bsr)