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.