President commutes Oki's death sentence to life

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has commuted the death sentence of convicted murderer Harnoko Dewantoro alias Oki to life imprisonment.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Thursday that Oki's death sentence had been commuted recently after a process that lasted almost a year.

"I submitted the request and I've since heard that the President acceded to it. His sentence has been commuted from death to life imprisonment," Yusril said.

He did not say if Oki had been informed but said Oki's lawyer, Henry Yosodiningrat, was already aware of the President's decision.

Oki was sentenced to death in 1997 for killing three people -- Gina Sutan Aswar, Suresh Gobind Michandani, and his younger brother Eri Triharto Dharmawan -- in Los Angeles, California, between 1991 and 1992.

Oki has been on death row in Cipinang Penitentiary since 1997. He petitioned the President to commute his sentence after the Supreme Court upheld the original sentence of death.

Yusril said that he had forwarded Oki's petition to President Megawati along with those of a number of drug convicts who are also facing the firing squad.

"However, none of the drug convicts had their sentences commuted by the President," he said.

The Oki case made headlines after it came to light in 1994, two years after the murders were committed.

American authorities began to investigate the case after they found one human body, later identified as Gina, in a rented storage locker in Los Angeles.

Gina died after being repeatedly hit on the head with a hammer.

Suresh, an Indian national, was shot dead.

Oki was sentenced for murdering Gina and Suresh as the result of a business dispute. Meanwhile, he murdered Eri as he knew about the murders and Oki wanted to cover his tracks.

The case grabbed the headlines here with Oki being described as a cold-blooded murderer who showed no remorse for killing the three.

The media reported that Oki was suspected of having a disturbed personality. He had once been arrested in 1995 when he was working as the finance manager of a discotheque in Jakarta.