Pakpahan not involved in 1994 riots: Witnesses

Pakpahan not involved in 1994 riots: Witnesses

JAKARTA (JP): Witnesses testified yesterday in defense of
Muchtar Pakpahan, saying they received a letter calling for the
cancellation of a strike which the labor leader was convicted of.

The four witnesses, all members of the Indonesian Prosperous
Labor Union (SBSI), said they received a letter several weeks
before the April 14 and April 15, 1994, Medan riots which
Pakpahan was allegedly responsible for inciting.

Eduard Marpaung, Riswan Suryana, Sumarno and Siti Maruyah
maintained that Pakpahan, chairman of unrecognized SBSI, could
not be guilty since the letter, from the union's central board,
called for the cancellation of all planned strikes between April
4 and Oct. 18, 1994.

Pakpahan was found guilty in November 1994 of inciting the
Medan riot. The Medan District Court sentenced him to three
years' imprisonment. The court rejected his appeal and increased
his sentence to four years.

But Pakpahan was released on Sept. 27, 1995, by a panel of
Supreme Court judges led by Adi Andojo Soetjipto.

However, another panel led by former chief justice Soerjono
annulled Adi's ruling and ordered Pakpahan to complete his
sentence.

Earlier this month the East Jakarta District Court under judge
Tojib Matderis began a review of the verdict after Pakpahan
claimed he had new evidence to support his innocence.

Pakpahan has now presented all 11 witnesses to support his
case.

Judge Tojib Matderis told reporters that the court would now
send the result of the hearing to the Medan District Court which
would give an opinion on the case.

"We will not give any opinions -- Medan's court judges will do
that," Tojib said. (05)