One year jail term for Maya demanded

JAKARTA (JP): Prosecutor Achjadi Sartono asked a West Jakarta District Court on Tuesday to sentence Gusti Maya Firanti Noor, wife of former president Soeharto's grandson Ari Sigit, to just one year in prison for possession and use of psychotropic substances.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

"The defendant violated Article 62 of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances. I demand the court sentence her to a one-year jail term, plus a fine of Rp 20 million (US$2,300)," Achjadi told a hearing at the West Jakarta District Court, presided over by Judge Sri Handojo.

"She can either pay the Rp 20 million or stay an additional three months in jail."

In reaction, the 29-year-old defendant, known as Maya Sigit, bowed her head.

After reading the charges, Achjadi explained the leniency of the request by telling the court that the defendant had been honest in court and had never before been in trouble with the law.

"She is very young and still has a chance to turn around her life for the better. She has admitted in court to have taken shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) under a lot of personal stress," Achjadi told the hearing.

"She is a mother of three, and her children need her."

After hearing the demand, Judge Handojo adjourned the hearing until next Tuesday to hear the response of defense lawyers to the demand.

Lawyer Asfifudin said after the hearing that in their reply to the demand, he would ask how a jail term would help his client become a better person.

"It is in the best interest of the public, if the defendant is put in a rehabilitation center where she can be treated at her own cost, and become a better human being," Asfifudin said.

The defendant's mother, Heldi Jaffar Nur, told reporters that her daughter always fervently asked her when she was getting out of jail.

A psychiatrist for Maya told an initial hearing that she would be better off in a rehabilitation center than in jail.

"If the defendant ends up in jail, she might come out and start smoking shabu-shabu again. If she stays at a rehabilitation center, things might start to look up for her," Al Bachri, a 54- year-old psychiatrist for drug users at Wisma Addiksi drug addiction center, earlier told the West Jakarta District Court.

Judge Handojo closed an initial hearing by asking the defendant if she was ready to be admitted into a rehabilitation center, at her own cost.

The defendant immediately replied that she was ready. (ylt)