Pleas not to extradite Oki to U.S. bombard authorities
Pleas not to extradite Oki to U.S. bombard authorities
JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers, relatives and police officers have asked the authorities not to extradite Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, to Los Angeles, as requested by the United States government.
"We have no extradition treaty with the United States and our existing law clearly stipulates that he has to be tried here," Oki's lawyer Amir Syamsuddin told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
According to Amir, the extradition of Oki would give Indonesia a negative image.
"It would seem that we surrender when pressured (by other countries)," the noted lawyer said. "It's an unusual case for this country to extradite its own citizen. So, the government has to decide its own point of view without being interfered with by another country," he said.
On a separate occasion, Ruhut Sitompoel, the lawyer for Oki's relatives, also said yesterday that Oki's family want the case to be brought before the local court, as requested by Oki earlier.
If the government decides that the case should be tried in America, "it means that we violate our own written rules," Ruhut said.
Lt. Col. Gories Mere, head of the Major Crimes Division of the Jakarta Police, said, "We'd be happy for the case to be tried here because it would cost us nothing, but as police officers, our task is to put everything in order, as required by our existing rules."
"As the law allows Oki to be tried here and the police have adequate material evidence available, there is no reason to take the case to the United States," said Gories, who recently led a team of four Jakarta police detectives to Los Angeles for investigations.
Oki, 30, is the main suspect in the killing of two Indonesians, and a man of Indian descent in Los Angeles, believed to be done in the period between 1991 and 1992. He was detained in Jakarta in 1995 for passport forgery.
Looking at his status as an Indonesian citizen, Article 5 of Indonesia's Criminal Code stipulates that Oki has to be tried here.
Request
On Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas formally received a request by the U.S. government for the extradition of Oki.
Oki has been wanted by Los Angeles police detectives following the discovery of the identities of the bodies of Suresh Mirchandani, a man of Indian descent, Gina Sutan Aswar, a young Indonesian woman, and Tri (Eri) Harto Darmawan, Oki's brother, by Los Angeles police in December last year.
Their decomposed bodies were discovered in August, in a storage locker, rented by Oki, when he was still in Indonesia.
As of yesterday, there has not been any response from the Ministry of Justice, whose experts are assigned to study the U.S. request.
Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman told reporters yesterday that even with the absence of an extradition treaty, Indonesia can extradite Oki to the United States "for the sake of this country and justice" without having to disobey prerequisites in the juridical system.
Oki's lawyer Amir said, "But if the government decides that Oki is to be tried in Los Angeles, I've got to get everything ready for my client."
The venue for Oki's case has been questioned by many law experts due to the shortage of some important and original evidence, such as a hammer and a gun, being held by the Los Angeles police.
"I don't know what the critics want from this case because it's clearly stated in our juridical system that police don't have to bring, for example, a decomposed body or a house in front of the court here," Mere said.
"It's enough to make legal reports or have photos of the evidence, which could not be brought here due to certain reasons, such as the gun and hammer, allegedly used by the suspect in killing the three victims," he added. (bsr/rid)