Prosecutors ask court to jail students for fatal attack

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.