Prosecutors insist on life sentence for Bali bomber
Prosecutors insist on life sentence for Bali bomber
Agence France-presse Denpasar
Indonesian prosecutors on Monday again demanded life in prison for a man who prepared materials for the deadlier of the two Bali nightclub bombs that killed 202 people.
"We, the prosecutors, are steadfast in our demand that a life sentence be passed on defendant Suranto Abdul Ghoni," Putu Supartajaya told a court in the resort island.
The prosecutor was responding to Abdul's defense plea last week in which he denied attending any meeting to prepare the October 2002 Bali attack.
Supartajaya said evidence showed the defendant was at several meetings at Surakarta in Central Java to prepare the bombings.
Police say the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network carried out the Bali attack, which killed mainly Western holidaymakers, to avenge perceived injustices against Muslims worldwide.
They have arrested some 35 people and most have been put on trial. Three, including Amrozy and Imam Samudra, have been sentenced to death and two were given life sentences.
Abdul has admitted crushing chemicals for the bomb at the home of convicted bomber Amrozi in Lamongan, Central Java in September 2002 and taking four boxes of the powdered chemicals to Bali by bus.
He has told the court that until he arrived in the island he did not know what the chemicals were for. Amrozi, one of those sentenced to death, had told him they were for fertilizer.
But Abdul has admitted helping pack explosive materials into a filing cabinet which was placed inside the van that exploded outside the Sari Club. Another suicide bomb went off seconds earlier inside Paddy's Pub.
Abdul's crimes are punishable by death but prosecutors are seeking a life sentence, saying he had partially admitted his role and had been "polite" in court.
The trial will resume next Monday to hear final comments from the defendant and his lawyers before judges deliver their verdict.
In a separate trial at the same court, a man accused of harboring Bali bomb mastermind Imam Samudra told judges he did not know at the time that Imam was a wanted man.
Heri Hafiddin, 33, said he had not been following the news due to work pressures and family problems.
Prosecutors want a nine-year jail sentence for Hafiddin. They say he rented a house in Banten province which Imam, a high school friend, used while on the run after the bombings.
Hafiddin is also accused of helping Imam recruit three men who robbed a jewelry store to raise funds for the Bali attack. Samudra was later sentenced to death.
Haffidin's trial resumes on Monday.