Over 14,800 inmates savor freedom

Over 14,800 inmates savor freedom

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

At least 14,800 people across the country, mostly convicted of
petty crimes, walked free on Wednesday as the government gave a
sentence remission to over 103,000 inmates on the 60th
anniversary of Indonesia's independence.

Besides the petty criminals, others who had a sentence
remission and were thereby released included one of the 2002 Bali
bombing convicts and 291 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin said that
except for those who were sentenced to life imprisonment or
death, all prisoners were entitled to a reduction in their jail
term on Independence Day.

"We are just upholding the law. Except for people who got the
death penalty or life sentences, any prisoner has the right to a
remission every year regardless of their crime," he said during
his visit to Salemba penitentiary in Central Jakarta.

Hamid also announced that the authorities cut the
controversial cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir's 30-month prison term by
four months and 15 days.

AFP reported on Monday that Australian Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer had asked the government not to cut Ba'asyir's
sentence.

Hamid, however, said that he had not received any formal
letter or phone call from the Australian government requesting
that Ba'asyir not be given a remission.

Ba'asyir was sentenced in March for his involvement in a
conspiracy that led to the October 2002 nightclub bombings which
killed at least 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Together with Ba'asyir, 19 of the 33 Bali bombing convicts in
Kerobokan penitentiary in Denpasar, Bali, were also given a
three-month remission each.

They include Abdul Rauf, Andri Octavia, Andi Hidayat, Junaedi,
and Hernianto from the Serang group as well as those from Solo
and East Kalimantan, such as Makmuri, M Musafak, M Najib Nawawi,
Bambang Setiono, Ahmad Budi Wibowo, and Masykur Abdul Kadir.

One Bali bombing convict, whose name was not revealed, was
released from prison because of the remission while three of the
bombers on death row and two others serving life sentences are
not eligible for remission.

Hamid said that besides the 291 GAM members, the government
would also pardon all of the 1,482 other GAM members, who are now
placed in several prisons in Java and Aceh.

"Right after the signing of the MOU in Helsinki, we sent a
letter to the House of Representatives to notify it that the
government will grant a pardon to all GAM members. The President
will immediately issue a decree to authorize the pardon," he
said.

I-box

Tommy could walk in 2007

Convict Hutomo Mandala Putra aka Tommy Soeharto, the youngest son
of former president Soeharto, could get out of prison sooner,
thanks to the remission granted every Independence Day.

Tommy was granted a cut in his sentence of 11 months and 35
days on Wednesday.

Director general of penitentiaries at the justice ministry,
Mardjaman, said that Tommy, who got a 15 year sentence for
plotting a murder and illegal arms possession in 2002, could be
released from the Batu penitentiary, Nusakambangan, Central Java,
in 2007.

The Supreme Court recently reduced his sentence to 10 years.

"By 2007, Tommy will have served two-thirds of his term.
According to the law, he can get a conditional release as he has
shown good conduct so far," Mardjaman said.

Meanwhile, Soeharto's minister and former chairman of the
State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Rahardi Ramelan, who just spent
two days in Cipinang penitentiary, East Jakarta, for involvement
in a graft case, got a sentence remission of two months and four
days.