Police told to use Criminal Code against Bali suspects

Police told to use Criminal Code against Bali suspects

Abdul Khalik and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

People implicated in the Bali bombings can still be brought to
justice under the Criminal Code and an emergency law issued in
1951, a noted legal expert says.

The Constitutional Court declared invalid last Friday Law No.
16/2003 on the retroactive application of Law No. 15/2003 on
terrorism, under which all people implicated in the Bali bombings
were charged.

The verdict raises fears that Bali bombing convicts, including
those sentenced to death, would walk free if they filed for
judicial review or appealed to a higher court.

According to Luhut M. Pangaribuan, should convicts be released
from jail, they, together with those who are currently being
questioned or are on trial, could be charged under the Criminal
Code and a 1951 law on illegal possession and use of explosives.

"The current trial can continue. They can always use another
law to charge a terror suspect because it is a principle that
they utilize as many laws as possible in prosecuting a suspect,"
said Luhut.

Several Bali bombing suspects are on trial, including a
younger brother of suspected terrorist leader Riduan Isamuddin,
alias Hambali, and three other students, who were deported from
Pakistan last year. They are also implicated in the JW Marriott
Hotel bombing last August.

Luhut said police must use the Criminal Code and other laws
enacted before the Bali bombings to charge Muslim cleric Abu
Bakar Ba'asyir and five other terrorist suspects detained in
Denpasar.

"Police must have subsidiary laws for Ba'asyir. So, police,
for instance, can detain him for 20 days and then another 40 days
if necessary, according to the Criminal Code," said Luhut.

Police named Ba'asyir a terrorist suspect on April 16 for his
alleged involvement in the Bali bombings and charged him under
articles 14, 15, 17 and 18 of Law No. 16/2003 for planning,
coercing, abetting and perpetrating terrorist attacks. He could
face the death sentence if convicted.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Paiman said on Monday
that they would consider the status of every terror suspect
before deciding to change the law used.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza
Mahendra acknowledged on Monday that the court ruling had
hampered the government case against Ba'syir.

"We are facing a difficult situation," said Yusril. "The
criminal code does not stipulate facilitating (terror) as a
crime."

"But there is still a chance for prosecutors as they might
also use the emergency law on illegal possession and use of
explosives when trying Ba'asyir," he said.

He also said that Friday's ruling might hamper efforts to
track down those implicated in the Bali bombings, including those
who failed to inform security authorities about plans by those
terrorists to launch attacks.

"Law No. 16/2003 allows the police to arrest people who
facilitate or support terrorist acts. It also allows the police
to arrest people who fail to inform security authorities about
planned terror acts. Now, with the Court's verdict, police have
to halt their efforts to hunt down these people," Yusril told a
media conference after a meeting of political and security
affairs.

"The verdict also affects legal processes currently ongoing at
several provincial courts in Bali and East Java against suspected
terrorists accused of committing the bombings; the judges will
not be allowed to issue verdicts based on prosecutors' primary
charges, which used that law as their legal basis," he said.