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)