Prosecutors seek review of Soeharto ruling

JAKARTA (JP): State prosecutors appealed on Thursday for a review of a district court ruling which had put the trial of former president Soeharto to a halt.

Muchtar Arifin, the director of prosecution affairs to the Attorney General's Office, said after submitting the appeal to the Jakarta High Court that the South Jakarta District Court could continue the trial without the defendant's presence as stipulated in the 1971 Anticorruption Law.

"The judges based their decision on a lex generalis, a penal code which allows a court to stop a trial if prosecutors fail to present the defendant.

"But, according to lex specialis, in the anticorruption law, the judges can hold an in absentia trial if a defendant fails to appear without a good reason," Muchtar said.

The South Jakarta District Court dropped Soeharto's corruption case in the third hearing on Sept. 28 after the prosecutors failed to present the defendant, who cited his illnesses for shunning the court sessions.

Muchtar criticized the judges for taking the decision before the prosecutors could read the charges.

He said the three sessions were only used to hear medical opinions on Soeharto's health to assess whether the former ruler was fit to stand trial.

"How could the judges reject the prosecution before the trial could be officially opened with the reading of the indictment? Moreover, we could have brought Soeharto into the courtroom if the judges had instructed us to do so," he said.

Muchtar also said the judges had defied the public's sense of justice and the country's efforts to eradicate corruption.

"The judges failed to see the necessity to continue Soeharto's trial which was not a petty case as it was mandated in the People's Consultative Assembly in 1999," he blasted.

Earlier on Wednesday, Attorney General Marzuki Darusman said the court's presiding judge Lalu Mariyun had committed a grave mistake by failing to force the defendant to appear in the courtroom.

Marzuki was commenting on Lalu who had said in an interview with a private television station that he would lodge complaints with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and the Supreme Court over what he called an intervention on the independence of the judicial system.

Denial

In Yogyakarta, deputy chief of the independent medical team who examined Soeharto, Prof. Rusdi Lamsudin, lashed out on Thursday at President Abdurrahman Wahid for alleging the team was "playing politics".

Rusdi, who is also the head of the neurology department at Gadjah Mada University, asserted that the medical team was entirely neutral and independent from any political interests.

"There had been no intimidation, bribery or any other action that influenced the result of our medical examination on Pak Harto," he told reporters.

Sanctioned by the South Jakarta District Court, Rusdi's 24- strong team, comprising doctors from the University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University and Airlangga University, confirmed a previous medical examination on Soeharto that the former president was physically and mentally too ill to stand trial.

"How could we, 24 doctors from three big universities, make a deal to declare that Soeharto can not stand trial due to his illness," he said.

Rusdi said that the team did not only analyze the medical reports made by Soeharto's private doctors but directly verified Soeharto's health.

He said Soeharto was suffering from a cerebral malfunction due to senility (locally known as pikun) and heart problems.

"If Pak Harto was forcefully tried, his heart could fail during the trial and also he can't give coherent statements," he said, adding that Soeharto's speech was also bad.

He said there was almost no possibility for Soeharto to recover from his illness and his condition could deteriorate.

Rusdi said the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) had refused another examination on Soeharto's health because "things are quite clear."

Asked if the government should insist on foreign medical doctors to reexamine Soeharto's health, he said it was up to the government.

"But I'm sure the results of the medical examination (by foreign doctors) would be the same as ours," he said. (44/bby)