Prosecution seeks life sentence for Adiguna Sutowo
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite persistent denials by the defendant, state prosecutors demanded on Tuesday that the Central Jakarta District Court sentence businessman Adiguna Sutowo to life imprisonment for the "cold-blooded murder" of Johannes "Rudy" Berchmans Haerudy Natong.
"Based on the facts revealed during the trial, we, the state prosecutors, demand that the panel of judges declare the defendant guilty of murder and illegal possession of a firearm, and sentence him to life in prison," chief prosecutor Andi Herman told the court.
Adiguna, a younger brother of businessman Pontjo Sutowo -- one of the owners of the Hilton hotel in Jakarta where the fatal shooting took place on Jan. 1 -- has been charged with violating Article 338 of the Criminal Code on intentional murder and Article 1 section 1 of Emergency Law No.12/1951 on possession of an unlicensed firearm.
The prosecutors said that Adiguna was guilty of shooting and killing the victim Rudy Natong on Jan. 1 at the Fluid Bar in the Hilton hotel based on eyewitness testimony over the course of the trial.
In previous sessions, witnesses, such as Daniel Sibarani and Cut Nina, confirmed that Adiguna shot his gun at Rudy's head.
"We believe that Adiguna pulled the trigger of his Smith and Wesson .22 caliber revolver three times, before the third bullet hit Rudy in the forehead and eventually took his life," said the prosecutor.
Prosecutors also cited a police report stating that the murder weapon, along with 19 bullets confiscated from Adiguna's Hilton hotel room after the shooting, was not registered with the National Police.
"Therefore there are extenuating circumstances: first, the defendant murdered in cold blood a part-time worker/university student and second, he has denied committing the crime. While there are no mitigating factors that would lead to leniency," prosecutor Andi stated.
Adiguna (47) seemed stunned after hearing the sentence demand, while his relatives, sitting in the court's gallery, wept and held each other.
Asked by Presiding Judge Lilik Mulyadi to comment on the demand, Adiguna did not say a word. In the previous session, he had persistently denied that he had played any role in the fatal shooting of Rudy.
Doubts had surfaced that prosecutors would ask for a lenient sentence after they asked judges to postpone the sentence demand a week ago.
The postponement provided a chance for Adiguna's defense lawyers to submit a faxed letter, claimed to be signed by Rudy's father, to the court. In the fax, it asks prosecutors for a lenient punishment for Adiguna because the family "had accepted Rudy's death as God's will" and made a "peaceful settlement" with the Sutowo family.
Before the session adjourned, Adiguna's lawyers asked the judges for two weeks to formulate their defense plea, which will include the letter.
Legal representatives of the Natong family, said they were content with the prosecutors' work on the case.
"The demand is worthy of the crime that Adiguna committed. We praise the prosecutors for their work," Gustav Chaman, one of Natong family lawyers told The Jakarta Post.
Earlier in the hearing, a group of students from Bung Karno University, where Rudy studied, demonstrated at the compound of the court urging prosecutors and judges to uphold the supremacy of the law.
"We urge the judges to uphold the law, which often becomes 'toothless' during cases involving influential state officials or businessmen," said one of the demonstrators, Viktor Susanto. (006)