Prosecution seeks life sentence for Adiguna Sutowo

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.
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