Prosecutor's office sets eight graft suspects free

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

The West Nusa Tenggara prosecutor's office has finally caved in to pressure, releasing eight jailed graft suspects from prison after one of the nine suspects died of natural causes on Thursday.

According to head of Mataram penitentiary, Jauhar Fardin, the suspect, Lalu Artawa, appeared healthy in the morning, conducting his regular morning exercise.

But at 9 a.m. Lalu complained of breathing problems, and he was immediately transported to the Army hospital located next door at around 9:45 p.m. local time, or 8:45 Jakarta time.

"We took him (Lalu) to hospital but he died," Jauhar said. Lalu reportedly died at 9:55 a.m. local time.

The penitentiary's doctor, Ratih, said Lalu was still alive when he was taken to the hospital. An Army hospital official said he died upon arrival.

"He had no heartbeat when he arrived here. We performed massage of his heart and lungs, but there was no reaction," said the Army hospital's doctor, Lt. Col. Priyono.

He said that there were no suspicious marks on Lalu, and that he had died from chronic asthma.

Lalu Artawa's family became hysterical on finding out that the former councillor had died.

On learning of the death, head of the West Nusa Tenggara prosecutor's office Zainal Arifin, military resort commander Lt. Col. Soeparto, West Nusa Tenggara police chief Brig. Gen. M. Tosin, head of Mataram penitentiary Jauhar Fardin and West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration secretary Nanang Samodra held a closed door meeting.

Soon after, the remaining eight jailed graft suspects were taken into the meeting.

After the meeting, the prosecutor's office made a surprise decision, announcing that the eight suspects would be released.

"There's no other choice for me. We decided to suspend the detention of the suspects starting today (Thursday) to avoid further commotion. I suspended their detention not because of the attack which damaged my office, but because of Lalu Artawa's death," Zainal said.

On Monday, the prosecutor's office was attacked by hundreds of protesters demanding the release of the nine jailed graft suspects -- former councillors who were allegedly involved in a mark-up case worth Rp 24.5 billion (US$2.6 million) from the 2001 provincial budget. Three other suspects in the case remain free, and are sitting members of the provincial council.

Zainal insisted that he did not cave in to protester's pressure in suspending the detention, saying he was just trying to prevent further conflict that might disrupt security in the province.

"Although we set them free, the investigation process will continue," Zainal said.

The decision was a setback for the prosecutor's office in dealing with corruption. It has previously turned down many requests, including from Governor Lalu Serinata, to suspend or change the suspects' detention status.

Zainal said the prosecutor's office was ready to be held accountable if Lalu Artawa's family wanted to take legal action against his office.

On Thursday, dozens of activists from non-governmental organizations activists came to the prosecutor office, demanding that they press ahead with the graft investigation.