Prime Bali terror suspect nearly ready for trial

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors said on Tuesday they had finalized the case file for Abdul Aziz, alias Imam Samudra, the alleged key planner behind the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, and estimated that his trial could start by mid May.

The completion of the 1,501-page dossier on Monday allowed prosecutors to register Abdul's case with the district court, said the spokesman of Bali's prosecutors' office, Soedibyo.

Last month, prosecutors had to return to the police Samudra's files due to administrative ommissions.

Soedibyo said his office would soon take over Abdul's detention and the evidence from the police.

"The handover of the suspect and the evidence will be done tomorrow (Wednesday)," Soedibyo told reporters.

Despite his official transfer, he added, the prime terror suspect would be returned to the police jail cell because the prosecutor's detention facility had been deemed inadequate.

Police submitted his dossier in early February, charging him of plotting and carrying out premeditated acts of terror to cause mass murder.

At least 202 people died in the powerful blasts that destroyed two nightclubs packed with foreign tourists in Kuta.

So far, police have arrested some 30 suspects in connection with the bombing, charging them with various articles under the antiterrorist government regulation.

Soedibyo said that the dossier of another suspect Rauf alias Sam had also been completed on Monday. Prosecutors charged him with helping to plan and fund the attack.

Another key suspect, Amrozi will be the first to go on trial.

Prosecutors completed his dossier last month, and his trial is expected to open by the end of April.

Police believe the Bali bombing was the work of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a shadowy organization operating in Southeast Asia.

Headquartered in Indonesia and with bases in Malaysia and Singapore, JI has also been blamed for the series of church bombings across the country during Christmas Eve in 2000.

JI's alleged spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has been arrested in connection with this case.

Police believe the Muslim cleric might have also been involved in the Bali bombing. But Ba'asyir has denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, police identified a key suspect responsible for the Christmas bombing of three churches in the West Nusa Tenggara town of Mataram.

But the suspect, known as Husaid alias Suwarso or Zainal Arifin, died in a traffic accident on June 2001, said local police spokesman Adj. Snr. Comr. Basri as quoted by Antara.