Police say judge to decide venue for Oki's trial
Police say judge to decide venue for Oki's trial
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): The site of the trial of Hernoko Dewantono,
alias Oki, the only suspect in a triple murder in Los Angeles, is
once again up in the air.
Police officers, who earlier insisted that Oki had to be tried
in Indonesia, now say a judges' decision will determine the place
of trial.
"Police have the right only to investigate the case and
compile the findings into dossiers, not to determine the venue of
the trial," National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman Atsrosemitro
said over the weekend.
This apparent about face in the attitude of the police force
has left a big question mark as to where and when Oki will be
tried.
Oki was arrested early this month in Central Jakarta on the
allegation of passport forgery.
Based on a warrant of arrest issued by the Los Angeles police,
local detectives have begun to question Oki about his alleged
role in the killing of his brother Tri Harto Darmawan, known as
Eri, Gina Sutan Aswar, a young Indonesian woman, and LA
businessman Suresh Mirchandani of Indian origin.
Many people believe that the case might be more attractive to
a curious public were the trial to be carried out in Los Angeles
due to the fact that a number of people from wealthy and noted
Indonesian families can be expected to turn up in court as
witnesses.
Just a few days after the police began to investigate Oki for
his alleged role in the killing of two Indonesians and a
businessman of Indian origin in Los Angeles, senior local police
officers, commenting on the strong possibility that Los Angeles
might also want the suspect, said he had to be tried here.
"There's no consensus (with Washington) on this matter. Oki
has to be tried here," Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto, the former
city police chief, said last week.
Sharing Hindarto's view, the head of the National Crime
Investigation Directorate, Brig. Gen. Rusdihardjo, said: "No
government in this world wants to see a citizen punished by other
country's court."
The officers supported the statements by sending a group of
four senior detectives to Los Angeles to collect material
evidence, question witnesses and study a number of places where
the victim's are believed to have been killed and the site where
their bodies were discovered.
Reports made by several Jakarta journalists who covered the
detectives' visit there stated that the Los Angeles police, who
were very helpful to the visiting detectives, still refused to
hand over important evidence to the Jakarta police.
The visiting detectives were only allowed to photograph the
material and legalize the prints at the Indonesian consulate
there.
This indicates that Los Angeles may want to try Oki there,
although there has been no formal statement from the Los Angeles
police on the trial venue.
As has been reported earlier, two Los Angeles detectives are
expected to arrive here this week along with the Jakarta team.
They are expected to study all information collected by the local
detectives here.