Oki's lawyers pounce on technicalities

Oki's lawyers pounce on technicalities

JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers of Harnoko Dewantono, a triple murder
suspect on trial for passport forgery, are hoping to capitalize
on several technicalities in order to have the prosecutors'
forgery indictment rejected.

Three lawyers from the Ruhut Sitompoel, Tommy Sihotang &
Associates law office told the South Jakarta court at the trial's
second session yesterday morning that the charges read by the
prosecution in the first trial on Wednesday were not sound
legally.

According to Ruhut Sitompoel, the passport forgery trial of
their client, Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, should not be taking
place at the South Jakarta court because the crimes took place
not only in Indonesia but also in Malaysia, Singapore and the
United States.

Under these circumstances, Ruhut said, only the Central
Jakarta Court has the authority to arraign Oki.

"The prosecutors have given no basic explanation as to why
they chose this venue for the trial," said Ruhut.

In his indictment last Wednesday, prosecutor Abdul Muis
Gassing told presiding judge Doris A.A. Taulo that Oki, a former
employee at a Jakarta leasing company PT Perdana Multi Finance,
falsified and repeatedly used two fake passports.

One of the passports had a fake name and the other one had a
photo of him bearing the name of his younger brother, Tri (Eri)
Harto Darmawan, one of three victims murdered in Los Angeles.

According to Muis, Oki obtained the first passport in July
1991 from the South Jakarta immigration office by using the name
of Oki Harnoko. With the passport, valid until 1997, Oki left for
the United States in October 1992, and arrived back in February
1993, through Soekarno-Hatta international airport.

In June 1993, Oki managed to get another passport for his late
brother at the Indonesian consulate in Chicago, valid for two
years. He then used the two-year passport to enter Indonesia the
following month through Polonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra.
A few weeks later, he used the same documents to go to Malaysia
via Soekarno-Hatta airport and arrived back a week later through
Polonia airport, Muis added.

Ruhut asked, "On what grounds did the prosecutors choose the
South Jakarta court since some events took place at the Soekarno-
Hatta airport located in Tangerang and Polonia airport in Medan,
North Sumatra?"

Oki was accompanied by Ruhut and his colleagues Tommy Sihotang
and Petrus Bala Pattyona.

Prosecutor Muis accused Oki of violating two rules of the
criminal code and three others stated in article 55 of the
Immigration Law.

He charged that Oki used various documents concomitantly and
that the documents were falsified through means prohibited in
articles 263 and 270 of the criminal code. The first violation
carries a maximum penalty of six years imprisonment, while the
second carries two years and eight months.

The trial yesterday lasted less than half an hour and was
adjourned until Monday to hear the prosecutors' response.

Judge Doris expects to issue a verdict on May 10. (bsr)