Prosecutors seek five years in jail for alleged terrorist accomplices
Prosecutors seek five years in jail for alleged terrorist accomplices
Fidelito Ahmad, The Jakarta Post, Lamongan, East Java
Government prosecutors demanded a five-year jail sentence for
each of the four people who helped to conceal arms and ammunition
belonging to Ali Imron, a key suspect in the Oct. 12, 2002 Bali
blasts.
Prosecutor Johan Arifin said during a court session here on
Monday that, based on the testimony of witnesses, the four
accomplices had violated Article 9 of Government Regulation in
Lieu of Law No. 1/2002 on terrorism. The defendants had allegedly
helped Imron to hide arms and ammunition at a forest area in
Solokuro village, Lamongan, East Java, on Nov. 7, 2002.
"We request the honorable panel of judges sentence the
defendants to five years in jail if they are found guilty of
helping suspected terrorists," he said.
The four were named by Ali Imron and Amrozi alias Abdul Azis
(alleged architects of the Bali bombing) in written testimonies
to the court last week, as Qomar bin Thalib, Nurminda bin Thalib,
Nurfitrotullah bin Maksudin and Sumarno.
Imron and Amrozi are also suspected to have provided the car
to the defendants. The arms and ammunition were transported to
the forest area packed inside six pipes.
Ali Imron and his two brothers Mukhlas and Ali Gufron
supposedly hid at an Islamic boarding school in Lamongan after
the Bali bombing.
The defendants' lawyer Fachmi A. Bachmid was disappointed with
the prosecutors' demand because he maintained his clients were
innocent.
He said state prosecutors had difficulty in presenting
evidence against the defendants because records indicated that
the ammunition had been ordered from the maker by the National
Police Headquarters and the Indonesian Military Headquarters, but
neither the military nor the police had reported it stolen.
"Before the arms and ammunitions were discovered, neither the
military nor the police had announced any arms and ammunition
losses," he said.
The session, attended by the defendants many relatives, was
adjourned until next Monday when the defendants' legal defense
will be heard.