Prosecutors want `Tempo' attacker acquitted

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In what many see as an insult to justice and a threat to press freedom, prosecutors requested here on Monday that a court acquit David Tjioe alias A Miauw of all charges of assaulting Tempo weekly news magazine journalists.

Ramdhanu, who leads the prosecution team, said the request was based on the testimony of most of the witnesses, who said that no attack had taken place on the magazine's chief editor, Bambang Harymurti.

Speaking before the Central Jakarta District Court, the prosecutor argued that the witnesses presented by the victim gave contradictory testimony on the gestures used by David, and which hand David had used, when he "touched" Bambang's head while they were in the offices of the Central Jakarta Police detectives.

Quoting the testimony, the prosecutors underlined that three witnesses, who are Tempo journalists who were with Bambang in the room, had not agreed on whether the defendant had used his right or left hand to either tap or slap Bambang's head.

Four other witnesses -- three of whom were David's acquaintances, as well as city police detective's deputy chief Edi Purwosusianto, who had not been in the room all the time -- claimed there had been no physical or verbal attacks on Bambang and his colleagues.

"The contradictory statements mean that it cannot be proved that an assault took place as part of an effort to force the journalists to reveal the source of a disputed article.

"Therefore, the defendant has not been proved to have broken the law as stated in the indictment," prosecutor E. Muzafar said to the cheers of David's relatives and supporters, who packed the courtroom.

However, Ramdhanu told reporters after the trial that an assault had actually taken place, but this was when the victim was still at the Tempo offices and not in the police station as charged in the indictment.

David, a supporter of tycoon Tomy Winata, led a demonstration involving some 200 people on March 8 at the Tempo offices on Jl. Proklamasi, Central Jakarta.

The protest, which was against a Tempo article that suggested Tomy was involved in the Tanah Abang market fire in February, later turned violent.

The reading of the sentence request for David had been postponed twice. The latest delay was because Ramdhanu failed to show up and the Attorney General's Office had yet to give its approval, according to Muzafar.

During a separate hearing on Monday, another team of prosecutors demanded that the Central Jakarta District court sentence Hidayat Lukman alias Teddy Uban to six months in jail plus nine months on probation over charges in the same case.

Hidayat, one of David's associates, was charged with violating Article 335 of the Criminal Code as he allegedly encouraged others to perpetrate acts of violence against Tempo journalists. The charge carries a maximum punishment of one year in jail.

Presiding judge Sunarjo, who is also presiding over David's trial, adjourned the hearing to Thursday when the court will hear defense arguments.