Prosecutor's office sets eight graft suspects free

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.