Security guards jailed for slaying Marsinah

JAKARTA (JP): Two security guards were sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison each for their roles in the brutal murder of labor activist Marsinah last year.

The Surabaya District Court found Suwono, 49, and Suprapto, 23, both employees of PT Catur Putra Surya, the watch company where Marsinah worked, guilty of killing the woman together with several other men.

Four people have now been sentenced to jail in connection with the murder. Three received 12 years while the other got seven months. The verdict against the two men was a year lighter than that sought by the prosecutors.

Both Suwono and Suprapto quickly rejected the verdict and stated they would appeal it, the Antara news agency reported.

"I never felt that I did it, so I don't accept this punishment. I am lodging an appeal," said Suwono immediately after Judge Musthafa Muhammad read the verdict.

The defendants' lawyers confirmed that they would appeal.

The court ruled that both defendants kidnapped the 24-year-old Marsinah, locked her in a house against her will, and tortured her to death.

The two men carried out the murder at the behest of Yudi Susanto, the company's director and the main defendant in the murder trials.

The order was issued in connection with the Marsinah-led strike by the company's workers demanding better working conditions.

Marsinah's mutilated body was found in Nganjuk on May 9 last year, five days after the strike.

The prosecutor's case was supported by the testimonies of Yudi's two maids who told the court that they saw the defendants and some other men carrying Marsinah's body into the house.

Another witness, Capt. Kusaeri, former chief of Porong district military command testified that he saw Suprapto take a woman, who was later found to be Marsinah, for a motorcycle ride on the night she was last seen. (par)