Ratna, friends jailed for ignoring order
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)