Prosecutor defends prosecution protocol

JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor insisted on Tuesday that prosecuting attorneys could improvise on the content of an indictment as there were no strict rules requiring the court to split separate criminal cases into separate dossiers.

"Article 143 of the Criminal Code indeed requires the prosecutor to compose the indictment in an accurate, clear and complete manner, but it does not provide a clear definition of the Article," prosecutor Hasan Madani said in a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court, which tried drug defendant Zarina Mirafsur.

"Therefore, everyone cannot declare his or her own interpretation of a regulation as the most correct one," he told the packed courtroom while reading his defense statement.

The prosecutor was commenting on an accusation made by Zarina's lawyers in a previous hearing that the indictment was unclear and unacceptable since the prosecutor had drawn up only one indictment for two separate cases.

Article 143 of the Criminal Code stipulates that prosecutors draft an indictment with accurate, clear and complete information about the crimes charged to the defendant, including the place and time of the crime.

The lawyers had earlier demanded the prosecution compose one indictment for one case, and make the second indictment after the court issued the verdict for the first case.

Hasan defended that he could "improvise on the composition of the indictment" in the absence of a clear regulation.

"Prosecutors usually establish indictments based on customary techniques which are inherited from their seniors, so it is difficult to judge the indictment as unclear and unacceptable just based on tradition," he said in the hearing presided over by judge Basoeki.

Zarina, who wore black pants and a white blouse, did not make any comment during the hearing. She listened attentively to the prosecutor as he read the 8-page defense statement.

The prosecutor said in the indictment that Zarina was firstly accused of possessing shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) when the police raided a house on Jl. Kemanggisan Utama Raya in West Jakarta on Oct. 1.

Zarina was then arrested on Nov. 11 along with friend Ahian Santoso alias Yeye in a hotel apartment in West Jakarta. She was secondly indicted with possessing shabu-shabu, a violation of article 62 of the 1997 Law on Psychotropic Substances, which carries a maximum jail sentence of five years.

The judge adjourned the hearing until Monday when Zarina's lawyers will make their response. (asa)