Soeharto's lawyers 'can be arrested'

JAKARTA (JP): Observers and legal practitioners said on Saturday that Soeharto's lawyers could be arrested for hampering the investigation into the former president's alleged corruption case.

The chairman of the Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), Sudjono, said the Attorney General Marzuki Darusman had the authority to put the lawyers under his office's custody due to their noncooperative acts, including leaking Soeharto's medical record.

"If Marzuki Darusman objects to the leakage, he could detain the lawyers," Sudjono said after a seminar held by the University of Indonesia's School of Law.

He added that the lawyers could be charged with leaking a state secret for making the medical report public.

His statement came in the face of plans by the Attorney General's Office to question the former ruler on Monday.

A team of lawyers representing Soeharto revealed on Wednesday the medical records of their client and the result of a medical reexamination carried out by the state-appointed doctors at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

Earlier, the Attorney General's Office announced that the result of the state-sanctioned medical checkup was confidential.

Soeharto has twice failed to answer the summons from the Attorney General's Office as his lawyers claimed he was medically unfit to undergo questioning and had trouble completing his sentences.

Sudjono said that two of Soeharto's lawyers were members of Ikadin.

"Marzuki told me he would soon file a complaint regarding the lawyers' behavior to Ikadin."

He added that Ikadin's honorary board could impose sanctions on the two lawyers, ranging from a reprimand to a dismissal.

Sharing the same view, chairman of the Indonesian Advocates Association (AAI) Yan Apul Girsang said that the honorary board of the association was formulating measures to be taken against members who were found to be in violation of the code of ethics.

Two of Soeharto's lawyers are AAI members.

Another speaker at the seminar, Bambang Widjojanto from the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), said the Criminal Code and the Anticorruption Law No. 3/1971 allow Marzuki to unveil lawyers who allegedly hamper investigations.

One of the Soeharto's lawyers, Juan Felix Tampubolon, told The Jakarta Post that the medical report belonged to their client and that it was his right to make it public.

"On the contrary, a person who reveals medical records without the patient's approval is violating ethics," he said. (01)