Student convicted of murder

BANDUNG: Bandung municipality district court sentenced on Thursday M.I.K, a senior high school student, to 15 months in prison for murder.

The sentence was more lenient than the two-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors.

The crime was committed after Raymond, a friend of the defendant, had engaged in a fight with Steven, a friend of the murder victim, Andi Lesmana.

The defendant had tried to calm both sides down during the fight in October last year in Bandung Supermall, but Steven was not tempered. Steven planned to again fight Raymond and the defendant. Three days later, Steven, Andi Lesmana and other friends waited for M.I.K and his friends in the school's parking lot.

The two groups became engaged in a brawl, and Andi Lesmana was stabbed to death by M.I.K.

Andi's parents expressed concern over the lenient sentence, saying that the judges could not distinguish between a murderer and a chicken thief. -- Antara