Sri Bintang cleared of charges

Sri Bintang cleared of charges

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court cleared on
Thursday Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) chairman Sri
Bintang Pamungkas of subversion charges and ordered the
government to publicly rehabilitate his name.

Presiding judge Muhamad Munawir said the decision was based on
Law No. 26/1999, which revoked and declared unlawful Law No.
11/1963 on subversion.

"The government has revoked the 1963 subversion law.
Therefore, there is no legal grounds to prosecute the defendant
for subversion," Munawir said.

He said the decision to clear Bintang of all charges was also
made based on the cooperation of the defendant during the
hearing.

Munawir said the court decided to resume Bintang's trial after
the politician sent a letter to the court and the South Jakarta
Prosecutor's Office on Oct. 26 of this year, asking that the
legal proceedings proceed.

The case came to a standstill after the original presiding
judge in the trial, Darlan Nasution, was appointed a senior judge
at the Aceh Provincial High Court in mid-1998. The trial opened
in late-1997.

The district court resumed hearing the trial on Nov. 23.

Despite the prolonged trial, Bintang has enjoyed a normal life
since May 25, 1998, when then president B.J. Habibie granted him
amnesty and ordered his release from prison.

The South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office sent a letter to the
South Jakarta District Court on May 26, 1998, asking the court to
dismiss all charges against Bintang.

"But the prosecutor's office request never received a response
from the chief of the South Jakarta District Court," Bintang
said.

Bintang was arrested for subversion in March 1997 and detained
in a cell at the Attorney General's Office, along with his
colleagues Yulius Usman and Saleh Abdullah.

Yulius and Saleh were released after one month in detention,
but Bintang was tried for subversion. The charges arose because
of his activities with PUDI, which the New Order government of
Soeharto never recognized.

Only three political parties were recognized during the New
Order era -- the United Development Party (PPP), Golkar and the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Among the charges against Bintang was his call for a boycott
of the May 1997 general election, a message which he sent by way
of Idul Fitri greeting cards which reached numerous people,
including government officials.

When the trial was ongoing in 1997, Bintang, who was expelled
from the House of Representatives in 1995, was serving a 34-month
prison term for insulting president Soeharto during a speech in
Germany in 1995.

He lost his seat in the House after the PPP faction, which he
belonged to, dismissed him for repeatedly criticizing the
military's role in politics. (01)