Policeman gets 4 months for shooting

AMBON, Ambon: The district military tribunal on Wednesday sentenced Adj. Brig. Suko Rihardian to a prison sentence of four months and twenty days for negligence, that resulted in the death of Samuel Ohoiliulun, 25, when Suko fired a shot into the air.

Presiding judge Let. Col. Sopiandi said Rihardian of the Maluku Mobile Brigade Police was on duty in Tual, capital of Southeast Maluku regency on September 11 trying to disperse a mob who were throwing stones at a resident's house.

The judge said the defendants fired eight warning shots into the air and one of the bullets hit the victim on a hill some 15 meters above him.

The sentence was lower than that demanded by military prosecutor Maj. Soenarso, who asked for seven months in jail. --Antara