Prosecutors ask court to jail students for fatal attack

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors asked the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday to sentence three students of the Jakarta Arts Institute to between six and eight years in prison for a fatal attack on a fellow student in March.

Chief prosecutor Luhut Sianturi demanded defendant Asep Suryaman, 22, be jailed for eight years, and defendants Fajar Sugeng, 23, and Ali Gufron, 25, for six years each.

"Eyewitnesses confirmed that they mobbed the victim, Ardyles Bardi, to death," Luhut said during the session, presided over by judge I Nengah Suriada.

The defendants are charged with manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.

The chief prosecutor also said the actions of the defendants had tainted the image of the Jakarta Arts Institute.

But Luhut also listed several mitigating factors, including that the defendants had never before been in trouble with the law and that they were young enough to be rehabilitated and contribute to society in the future.

Wearing white long-sleeve shirts and black paints, the defendants, who have been detained since March 12, appeared shocked by the sentencing demands.

But several relatives of Ardyles yelled out in protest upon hearing the prosecution's recommendations.

"It's too light, your honor, they should be sentenced to 20 years in jail each," one of the victim's relatives shouted.

Dozens of students of the Jakarta Arts Institute attending the hearing remained quiet throughout the proceedings.

According to prosecutors, the murder occurred on March 11 on the campus of the institute, located on Jl. Cikini Raya in Central Jakarta.

Prosecutors said Asep accused Ardyles of stealing his mobile phone. Ardyles denied the accusation, but Asep dragged the victim into the student senate room, where he began to kick and punch Ardyles. Fajar and Ali, along with four other defendants who will be tried separately, then stripped off the victim's clothes and physically assaulted him.

Prosecutors say the defendants left Ardyles lying unconscious in the hallway outside the room. He was taken by other students to the nearby Cikini Hospital, where he died from his injuries.