Pro-independence students sentenced

JAKARTA (JP): Four student activists from Irian Jaya were each sentenced to three months and 25 days in jail for joining a demonstration outside the Dutch Embassy and the U.S. Embassy on Dec. 1, 2000.

The verdict for Yoseph Wenda, 28, Mathius Rumbrapuk, 31, Laun Wenda, 24 and Hans Gobay, 23, was read out by presiding judge Andi Sansan Nganro in Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

However, the defendants would not be required to go to jail as they had been detained from Dec. 2, 2000 to March 26, 2001, or for a period of three months and 24 days.

The prison term was shorter than prosecutor Maju Ambarita's demand of eight-months imprisonment.

The judges gave the defendants a lighter sentence as the primary charges of subversion were not proven.

"There was no indication of subversion in this case," Andi remarked.

He said the defendants had violated Article 154 of the Criminal Code by showing hostile intentions against the state in public.

This was particularly based on the fact that instead of staging the demonstration at national institutes connected with the issue, they did it outside foreign embassies, according to the verdict.

The right to demonstrate, Andi said, was allowed here based on Article 28 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

However, the judges viewed that the defendants had voiced their opinion in an unbalanced way and that what had been done by the defendants was "too much".

Some mitigating factors considered in the handing down of the verdict were that the defendants were still young and as university students, they were expected to develop Irian Jaya, after the completion of their studies.

The other factor was that the defendants had apologized.

Last year, more than 500 pro-independence Irianese student activists from Java and Bali held a demonstration outside the Dutch Embassy and the US Embassy, to celebrate what they claimed to be the 39th anniversary of the declaration of independence in Papua.

It was also aimed at revealing the poor conditions under which people lived in the province. The students had demanded for more attention to Irian Jaya.

The activists gave speeches outside both embassies shouting their demands.

During the rally, they carried two flags symbolizing the rising star, which is known as the flag of Free Papua. They also carried banners that read "Free Papua" and "this is not red and white, this is the rising star".

More than 20 Irianese students, who came from Salatiga, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Bandung, Jakarta and Denpasar, attended Tuesday's trial to show their support for their colleagues. They looked relieved after hearing the verdict.

However, the defendants' lawyer, Azas Tigor Nainggolan, insisted that they would appeal.

"The defendants deserve to be freed of any charges," he told reporters after the trial, adding that the defendants were only expressing their opinion in public, which was not a crime. (04)