Prosecutors seek death sentence for Gunawan

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta

State prosecutors are seeking to sentence defendant Gunawan Santoso to death for masterminding the murder of PT Arena Sarana Bakti (Asaba) director, Boedyharto Angsono, and his bodyguard, Edi Siyep, in July last year.

In Tuesday's hearing at the North Jakarta District Court, prosecutor Andi Herman told the court presided by judge I Wayan Padang that they had secured enough evidence to prove that the defendant was guilty of deliberately planning a homicide under Article 340 of the Criminal Code.

Testimonies from four Marine officers who carried out the assassination, Andi continued, provided further grounds to find the defendant guilty under Article 55 of the Criminal Code as well, for having ordered others to commit manslaughter.

Defendant Gunawan allegedly hired the four Marines to kill Boedyharto Angsono, his former father-in-law, and Edi Siyep, who was a member of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus), in an act of revenge.

Andi also asked the judges to take into consideration several facts, including that the defendant had been convicted three times of various crimes, had been a fugitive, and has misused state security officers for committing a crime. The defendant had also been uncooperative and even tried to escape during the trial.

"We have found no mitigation circumstances," Andi said.

The defendant had escaped from Kuningan Penitentiary in Cirebon, West Java, last year, where he was serving time for an embezzlement case. Gunawan attempted to escape while being transported from the Salemba state penitentiary to his trial at the district court in March.

Upon hearing the prosecutor's request for capital punishment, Gunawan appeared calm and asked his lawyers to answer for him.

Gunawan's lawyer, Alamsyah Hanafiah, said that his client would prepare a defense, and asked for three weeks to prepare it, considering that the prosecution was seeking the death sentence.

Wayan, however, only gave the defense team 12 days, as he also gave the prosecutors the same amount of time to prepare their indictment. He then adjourned the trial until June 7 to hear the defense.