Prosecutors told to produce Lt. Agus in a drug trial
JAKARTA (JP): A West Jakarta District Court judge urged prosecutors on Wednesday to summon Second Lt. Agus Isrok, alias Deky Setiawan, to appear as a key witness in the next session of a drug trial.
"The court badly needs testimony from Deky Setiawan. Therefore, we ask prosecutors to soon contact Military Police Headquarters requesting permission for him to appear in this courtroom next time," presiding judge Hadi Lelana told the hearing.
Hadi's remarks followed repeated queries from lawyers for defendant Donny Hendrian concerning the status and whereabouts of Agus, who is a member of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).
Agus is also a son of former Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo.
Wednesday was the sixth session in the trial of Donny, who was apprehended with Agus at a West Jakarta hotel in possession of a large amount of drugs, including heroin, shabu-shabu (crystal methamphetamine) and ecstasy pills.
Hadi's call was supported by fellow trial judge Basoeki.
"The prosecutors should present Deky to this courtroom since this case was about a large size of drugs."
He said public condemnation would follow if the court failed to explore all avenues in completing the case.
The judges and prosecutors used Deky Setiawan in referring to Agus Isrok because it was the name used in the police dossiers and the prosecutor's indictment.
Defendant Donny told the court in a previous hearing that the real name of Deky Setiawan was Agus Isrok.
Donny and Agus were arrested on Aug. 8 in a room of a hotel on Jl. Mangga Besar.
As described in the police dossiers, the items seized included 3.7 kilograms of shabu-shabu, 6,218 ecstasy pills, 27.9 grams of heroin and 25 sachets of Valium pills.
The status of Agus in the drug case remains a mystery as none of the military investigators and top officers have been willing to reveal the results of their investigation.
Director for investigations of the National Military Police, Col. Hendardji, told The Jakarta Post recently that the internal investigation into Agus was completed.
However, he refused to elaborate on the results.
"To obtain the details, you should contact the National Military Police commander, Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin, since I have filed the complete report to him as my superior," he said.
During Wednesday's hearing, prosecutor Amirullah told the court that he previously sent two letters to Agus Isrok's address in Bandung, requesting that he appear in court.
He said there was no response.
Amirullah promised to send another letter to Agus' address as required by the law on Criminal Code procedures. A witness can be forcibly brought to court if he or she fails to heed a third request to appear in court.
But when asked by reporters later whether he would seek assistance from the military police if the third request was unheeded, the prosecutor replied: "I have no idea."
Chief Sgt. Priyono Abdi Darmo, a police officer who was directly involved in the investigation of the case, explained to the court about the substantial difference in the quantity of shabu-shabu listed in the police dossiers and the amount submitted to the court as evidence.
The prosecutor, who received the evidence along with the dossiers from the police, submitted only 1.6 kilograms of shabu- shabu to the court instead of the 3.7 kilograms noted in the dossiers.
Priyono claimed to have misread the scale when he weighed the drug because the instrument's measurements were in both pounds and kilograms.
Judge Basoeki concluded: "It was the police officer's fault, since he should have noted 1.6 kilograms in the police report, not 3.7 kilograms."
The judge adjourned the hearing to Monday to hear testimony from two senior officers from the West Jakarta Police, Col. Adji Rustam Ramdja and Maj. Idham Azis.(asa)