Probation sentence sought for Ngadinah
Probation sentence sought for Ngadinah
TANGERANG (JP): A prosecutor asked the Tangerang District
Court on Thursday to sentence labor activist Ngadinah to a
probation period for inciting other workers to join a strike.
Prosecutor Eka Widyastuti said that defendant Ngadinah would
be sentenced to seven months in jail if she repeated the same
offense within a year.
The prosecutor said that the defendant had violated Article
335 of the Criminal Code on inciting others to commit "offensive
or violent acts", which also inflicted losses to the company
where she works: PT Panarub, a company that produces Adidas
shoes.
Dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt and beige slacks,
Ngadinah listened intently to the sentence demand.
She told presiding judge Achmad Zaini that she would
prepare her plea in the next session on Aug. 6.
She told The Jakarta Post outside the courtroom that her
lawyers, Pardoman Simanjuntak and Lelly Gustinar, decided on July
3 to withdraw themselves from the case in protest over the
court's rejection of their request to present expert witnesses:
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, criminal law expert of the Indonesian
University and HP Raja Gukguk of the Indonesian Christian
University.
Ngadinah said that the judges later granted the request to
allow Harkristuti to testify in the hearing early this month, but
the two lawyers still refused to continue handling the case.
Commenting on the prosecutor's sentence demand, Ngadinah, who
is secretary of the Association for Garment and Leather Workers
(SPTSK), said it was the right of prosecutors to determine the
length of the sentence demanded.
"I am not shocked because I have seen from earlier sessions
that all (legal) process is unfair," she said.
Tangerang Police arrested Ngadinah, 23, a resident of Perum
Bumi Asih Block E No. 30, Kotabumi, Tangerang, who had worked for
PT Panarub for five years, on April 23 following information
provided by company human resource manager Slamet Supriyadi.
Supriyadi filed a complaint with the police that the defendant
had forced other workers to join a massive strike between Sept. 8
and Sept. 11, causing the company Rp 500 million in losses during
the four-day strike by 8,000 workers.
After spending two weeks under police detention, Ngadinah was
released on May 22 and was put under house arrest under guarantee
of State Minister for the Environment Sony Keraff, Deputy
Director of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
Munir and Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence Munarman.
Earlier, police charged her with violating Article 160 of the
Criminal Code for resisting authorities in public. However, the
prosecutor then also charged her with violating Article 335. (01)