Police await judges' decision on Udin's murder trial

JAKARTA (JP): Police have not conceded that the trial of Dwi Sumadji for the murder of Bernas daily journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafrudin is over despite prosecutors dropping their case against him for lack of evidence.

"It was only the prosecutors' decision," said National Police Chief Gen. Dibyo Widodo.

"Let's just wait for the judges' decision," he told reporters after a signing ceremony of an agreement on arms supply and maintenance between the Armed Forces headquarters and the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Chief prosecutor Amrin Naim told the Yogyakarta district court Monday that the indictment against Dwi Sumadji, alias Iwik, was not supported by material evidence or credible testimony.

None of the 31 witnesses has supported the charge against the 31-year-old driver of a local advertising firm, he said.

Three law professors of the Semarang-based Diponegoro University yesterday welcomed the prosecutors' decision.

"It's logical for the prosecutors to drop the charges against Iwik, as they knew that they had no strong evidence to put him in prison," said Is Susanto, dean of the University's post-graduate law school.

He said the prosecutors had handled the investigation very carefully from the beginning.

"You might remember that they returned the dossiers to the police several times," he told journalists.

Susanto's colleague, Soehardjo, said he saw nothing extraordinary in the prosecutors' decision.

"It's common to drop the charges against a defendant when there is no supporting evidence," he said.

He praised the court for its honest and objective trial against the defendant.

"I hope that honesty can be maintained until the end of the trial," he said. "And I believe the judges will come to the same conclusion as the prosecutors."

The rector of the university, Muladi, suggested that the police should seek the real murderer if the charges against Iwik were dismissed.

He said Iwik could then sue the police for damaging his reputation.

Iwik was charged with the murder of Syafrudin, alias Udin, who was assaulted at his home by an unidentified man on Aug. 13 last year. Udin died three days later without regaining consciousness.

There has been widespread speculation that Udin was murdered for his probing articles on corruption within the Yogyakarta bureaucracy.

Police insisted that he was killed because of jealousy over a love affair they said he was having with Iwik's wife, Sunarti.

The prosecution attempted to present a case along these lines, but was unable to established this point, as Sunarti testified that she had never had an affair with Udin and that she knew him only when they were in high school.

Iwik repeatedly gave evidence during the trial that he was forced by police to admit to a crime he did not commit, and that the whole case was a cover-up to protect Bantul Regent Sri Roso Soedarmo. (imn)