Prosecutors seek five years for FKM leaders
Prosecutors seek five years for FKM leaders
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State prosecutors sought on Thursday a five-year sentence
each for two leaders of the Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) who
were charged with treason against the state.
FKM Chairman Alexander Hermanus Manuputty, 55, and the front's
legislative leader Wailerruny Samuel, 45, maintained innocence
while their team of lawyers intimated that the trial was rigged.
Prosecutor Herman Koedoeboen stated during a court session at
the North Jakarta District Court that his team had secured the
case and convincingly found the two guilty of violating Article
106 of the Criminal Code on treason.
The article carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
"The defendants carried out an act of subversion with intent
to divide the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia,"
Koedoeboen said at the hearing, which was presided over by Judge
I Wayan Padang.
The prosecutors weighed the defendants' 30 years of serving
the country as civil servants as a mitigating factor.
As for compounding factors, the defendants' act of subversion
had the potential to cause disintegration, besides which it had
ruined the country's image among the international community.
"Moreover, the defendants never showed remorse and had
hampered the trial by giving unreasonable statements," the
prosecutor said.
Granted an opportunity to respond to the sentence, Manuputty
challenged the prosecutors, saying, "Five years or twenty years
(imprisonment), I'm ready, because I'm sure that I did the right
thing. The trial is only twisting the facts and the truth."
Manuputty and Samuel have been accused of establishing an
illegal organization and hoisting a separatist flag during the
celebration of the 52nd anniversary of the South Maluku Republic
on April 25.
Manuputty, a doctor, was arrested in April by dozens of armed
police and military personnel who stormed his home in Ambon.
The panel of judges decided to adjourn the hearing until Dec.
23 to hear the defendants' and their lawyers' argument, despite
the latter's request to postpone the hearing until January to
give the defendants time to celebrate Christmas with their
families.
Lawyer Paskalis Pieters later filed an objection with the head
of the district court and also submitted a request for a new
panel of judges.
"We no longer have trust in the current judges because the
hearing is obviously under pressure to be wrapped up soon. How
can we make a defense on a political case in only four days? The
judges are unable to be neutral and fair in trying this case," he
told reporters after the hearing.