Prosecutors firm on charges against subversion suspects
Prosecutors firm on charges against subversion suspects
JAKARTA (JP): Prosecutors stood firm yesterday on their indictments against labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan and the nine student activists standing trial for alleged subversive activities undermining the state ideology Pancasila.
In six separate court sessions at the South and Central Jakarta district courts, the state prosecutors argued that their indictments were "clear and complete" in law and called on the court to proceed to the next phase of the trials.
The prosecutors failed to respond to the defendants' claims in court last week that they were not tried for the crimes they were arrested for, allegedly masterminding the July 27 riots, but for their critical minds.
The defendants are facing the maximum penalty of death.
The prosecutors argued that the defendants' claims in their rebuttals last week were inadmissible because they overstepped the Criminal Code Procedures which limit rebuttals to the "formal aspects" of cases, not the substance of the accusations.
Defendants Pakpahan, leader of the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), chairman of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) Budiman Sudjatmiko and eight other PRD activists refuted last week the prosecutors' charges of subversion, describing them as the government's attempt to silence its critics.
They said the charges were only barely related to the allegations made by the police, when they were arrested, that they were behind the July 27 riots which claimed at least five lives and left 23 missing.
The case against Pakpahan is being heard at the South Jakarta District Court, with that of Petrus H. Hariyanto and Ken Budha Kusumandaru, Ignatius Putut Arintoko and Victor Da Costa.
The defendants' families and relatives, as well as supporters such as government critics Ali Sadikin, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, and Catholic Father Sandyawan Sumardi were present at the hearings in South Jakarta court.
In response to Pakpahan's defense team's rebuttal calling the application of the 1963 Anti-subversive Law outdated, prosecutor R. Moekiat argued "it still works as a tentative law anyway".
Moekiat dismissed the defense's claim that the prosecutors' use of the colonial Article 154 of the Criminal Code, known as Haatzai Artikelen, was not proper because the document was outdated. He said the law was still valid and there was precedence for its use.
The law stipulates harsh penalties for those found guilty of sowing hatred against the government. The prosecutors are arguing Pakpahan did this in a book he wrote and in statements he made between August 1995 and July 27, 1996.
The cases against Budiman and his friend Garda Sembiring, Suroso, Ignatius Pranowo and Yakobus Eko Kurniawan are being heard in Central Jakarta District Court.
The activists yesterday again protested the use of violence in their arrest, and called the procedures "illegal" and "undemocratic".
"What the prosecutors must answer is why we were detained in such an undemocratic way," Budiman Sudjatmiko said.
Budiman said the prosecutors' failure to respond to his objections about the manner of their arrest implied agreement that the procedure was "illegal".
One of the activists' lawyers, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, said the defense team was trying to prove the arrest procedure was illegal. "If it's proved, then the activists could be released," he said.
He referred to article 156 of the Criminal Code Procedure which he said guarantees everyone the right to question detention procedures.
Budiman said he was not sure whether he would win the case. The court trials were not about upholding the laws, but about politics, he said.
All trials are adjourned until Dec. 30. (08/03)