Police await judges' decision on Udin's murder trial

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)