Prosecutor demands 15 years jail for youth activist

JAKARTA (JP): The prosecutor in the subversion trial of youth activist Budiman Sudjatmiko asked the court yesterday to sentence him to 15 years in jail for his alleged role in undermining the state ideology Pancasila.

The demand was made in the absence of the defendant and his lawyers.

Prosecutor M. Salim told the Central Jakarta District Court that Budiman, the leader of the unrecognized Democratic People's Party, had sought to change the New Order government into what he called a populist democratic coalition state.

"PRD did not name Pancasila as its sole ideology," Salim said. "It declared itself an organization based on 'social democratic populism' and aimed to establish a populist multiparty democratic state, and a democratic society in social, economic, and cultural fields."

The prosecutor said the PRD was guilty of awarding some of the people involved in the banned Indonesian Communist Party or people who had been charged under the subversion law during the party's declaration in July last year.

Salim said Budiman and his friends had held labor demonstrations and strikes in four cities.

"These actions were his attempt to utilize workers to reach the party's goal," the prosecutor said.

Salim said Budiman's action could be linked to his early tendency towards Marxism and New Left concepts, as witnesses had testified.

"The tendency influenced him to discredit the New Order era under President Soeharto," Salim said.

In separate trials at the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday, prosecutors sought sentences ranging from eight to 13 years for Budiman colleagues: Garda Sembiring, Ignatius Damianus Pranowo, Yakobus Eko Kurniawan, and Suroso.

At the South Jakarta District Court, prosecutors demanded sentences ranging from three to 12 years imprisonment for PRD members Victor Da Costa, Ignatius Putut Arintoko, Ken Budha Kusumandaru, and Petrus Hari Hariyanto.

The defendants refused to appear in court yesterday claiming their rights had never been respected.

"What is the meaning of our physical presence when we will never be heard?" Garda asked prosecutors who went to the court's cell and pleaded with them to appear.

In a letter to the judges, the defendants accused the court of failing to follow proper procedures during the trial, including not presenting all evidence, not allowing the defendants to properly address the court and not calling all witnesses.

Before the trials, the defendants' team of lawyers lodged protests at the Supreme Court against judges whom they said had broken the Criminal Code Procedure.

About 25 lawyers and the parents of some of the defendants met the Supreme Court secretary-general, Mangatas Nasution, and urged him to take action against the violations allegedly committed by the judges.

One of the lawyers, Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan, said the violations included the judges' refusal to hear the defendants' witnesses, and allowing the prosecution to present written testimonies when their witnesses could have appeared in court.

The lawyers also said the judges drove the defendants and their lawyers out of courtrooms without reasonable grounds. (05)