Prosecutors seek death sentence for Gunawan

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.