Ratna, friends jailed for ignoring order

JAKARTA (JP): North Jakarta District Court sentenced stage actress Ratna Sarumpaet and four of her friends to two months and 10 days each for ignoring a police order to halt a meeting at a cottage in Ancol on March 10.

Presiding judge Aloysius Suradiman said the court decided that Ratna and the other four defendants -- reporter Ging Ginanjar, lawyer Alexius Surya Tjahaya Tomu, art worker Jul Taher and activist Nandang Wirakusumah as well as Ratna's daughter Fathom Saulina -- were guilty of ignoring the police order. Fathom was sentenced to 12 days.

"The court rejects all the defense statements by the defendants and their lawyers. The panel of judges believes the testimonies from all three sworn witnesses," Suradiman said.

He said Pademangan Police chief Capt. Bambang Wiji, a witness in the case, said he had asked the defendants to disperse three times. His testimony was supported by two other witnesses -- the cottage's general manager, Susilo, and its security chief, Paulus Mambo.

The defendants did not, however, violate Article 5 of Law No. 5 on political activities or Article 156 of the Criminal Code on spreading hatred, Suradiman said.

They were found guilty of violating Article 218 of the Criminal Code on ignoring a police order, he said.

Prosecutor Purwanto Putro, who earlier asked the court to sentence Ratna and the her friends to three months in jail and Fathom to 20 days in jail, accepted the judges' decision.

The defendants are still considering whether to appeal the decision.

All the defendants were free as of yesterday since their sentences were deducted by the time they served in detention.

Fathom had been detained for 12 days and released on his father's request.

The defendants, each wearing a black ribbon in a sign of condolence for the students killed at Trisakti University last week, have denied each of the witnesses' testimonies, saying that there was no order to disperse at the meeting.

The defendants said they only heard the police chief ordering his officers to arrest Ratna when she stopped the meeting after the participants sang the National Anthem and held a prayer.

Ratna asked the court to release her and her friends since they were arrested only because they had spoken out about reform.

"Now reform is happening in the country. I hope the court also supports reform. Long live reform," said the playwright, whose play Marsinah Menggugat (Marsinah, a dead worker activist, condemns) has been banned in several cities.

The same court earlier rejected lawsuits filed by Ratna and her friends against the police on March 31.

The plaintiffs sued the police for illegal arrest and detention.

The court, however, insisted that the arrest and the detention were legal. (jun)