Prosecutor demands 15 years jail for youth activist
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)