Seven more bombing suspects tried

Seven more bombing suspects tried

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

Seven more suspects went on trial at the Makassar District Court
on Thursday for their alleged involvement in the Dec. 5, 2002
bombings that killed three people and injured 15 others.

The seven suspects named Muchtar Daeng Lau, Suryadi Mas'ud,
Lukman bin Husain, Usman Nuraffan, Kaharuddin Mustafa, Hamid
Razzaq and Imal Hamid were tried in separate sessions.

Six of the 13 people who were suspected of involvement in the
bombings, stood trial earlier on Monday.

Hamid and Imal, the father and brother of key suspect Agung
Abdul Hamid who is still at large, were charged with assisting
the key suspect to store potassium and TNT at their house and for
not reporting it to the relevant authorities.

"The defendants played the role of accomplices in the bombing
that killed three people and injured 15 others. The McDonald's
fast-food company suffered Rp 1 billion (US$121.950) in financial
losses while NV Hadji Kalla car dealership suffered Rp 50 million
in financial losses," a government prosecutor told the court.

The charges were similar with the ones handed down by
government prosecutors against the six defendants who went on
trial on Monday.

They were all indicted for violating Government Regulation in
Lieu of Law No. 1/2002 and Law No. 15/2003 on antiterrorism. They
will face the death penalty if convicted.

According to the law, any individual or organization who are
involved in planning, assembling explosives, detonating
explosives or committing terrorist acts may face the death
penalty should they be found guilty. All those collaborating with
the suspects will face similar charges.

Two other defendants Suryadi Mas'ud and Usman were charged for
assembling the explosives along with another suspect Dahlan, who
is still at large.

Both defendants rejected the charges.

"The indictments are baseless. They were engineered," said
Usman after the court session.

Muchtar Daeng Lau was charged with making sketches of the
location based on a survey conducted by another suspect Hizbullah
Rasyid, who is also still at large.

Prosecutors said that the seven suspects attended a meeting on
Oct. 14, 2002, at Agung's house around two months prior to the
bombings but they failed to report on it to the local
authorities.

The suspects' lawyers demanded that the seven suspects be
moved to Makassar prison instead of the South Sulawesi Police
Headquarters detention center.

"We demand that our clients be moved to Makassar prison for
easier communication. They have been under pressure
psychologically and mentally in police custody," said Nasiruddin
Pasigai and Abraham Samad, lawyers for Suryadi and Muchtar
respectively.

Presiding judge Andi Haedar turned down the demand.

The court session will be adjourned until Monday to hear the
suspects' defense arguments.

The trial, held under tight security, was only attended by he
suspects' families.