Student demonstrators gag mouths in court
Student demonstrators gag mouths in court
JAKARTA (JP): A group of 43 students on trial at the Central
Jakarta District Court charged with conducting an illegal rally
last week appeared on Monday with their mouths sealed with band-
aids.
The defendants, who included six girls and two high school
students, put on the show of defiance when refusing to give
testimony to the panel of judges.
To mock the court many of the students took off their shoes
before entering the courtroom, which was packed with their
friends.
The students from various universities in Java and grouped in
the Indonesian Youth Struggling Front also asked their lawyers
from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute not to accompany them during
the trial.
The defendants were netted on Jl. Proklamasi on Friday after
visiting the National Commission on Human Rights to protest the
dismissal of more than a thousand workers of an electronics firm
in East Java.
The workers of the Surabaya-based Maspion Group were
reportedly dismissed after participating in a mass rally on Feb.
17 to demand a wage increase.
The students were prosecuted in so-called speed trials in
three courtrooms presided over by judges Agus A.G. Dewata,
Prasadi and Endang Sumarsih.
Shortly after the judges handed down guilty verdicts on the
students for holding an unlicensed rally and sentenced them to Rp
2,000 fines or three days in jail, the defendants hastily took
off the tiny band-aids and yelled and sang.
Under the watchful eyes of dozens of police officers, the
students then left the courtroom without either responding to the
verdicts or paying the fines.
Appeal
One of the defense lawyers, Daniel Panjaitan, who witnessed
the three-hour trials from the visitors' seats in the company of
colleagues, said his clients might appeal the verdicts to the
Supreme Court.
Daniel chided the judges for arriving at the verdicts without
trying to question either the defendants or the police witnesses
or examining the available evidence.
"They should have followed trial procedures even though the
defendants refused to answer their questions," the lawyer said.
According to the judges, the defendants were found guilty of
violating Article 10 of Law no. 9/1999 on propagating opinions in
public places without proper permits and Article 510 of the
Criminal Code on illegal rallies.
Those violating the regulations face a maximum punishment of
two weeks in jail or fines of up to Rp 2,250.
On Friday, 47 students of Perbanas economic and banking
institute charged similarly for a different occasion walked out
at the same court before the judges could read out the verdict.
But the judges -- in the absence of the defendants -- fined
the protesting students the amount of Rp 2,000 each.
As in the case of Monday's trial, none of the students was
present to hear the judge' verdicts.
Daniel, also a defense lawyer on Friday, said his clients were
considering appealing the judges' decision to the Supreme Court.
(jun)
JAKARTA (JP): A group of 43 students on trial at the Central
Jakarta District Court charged with conducting an illegal rally
last week appeared on Monday with their mouths sealed with band-
aids.
The defendants, who included six girls and two high school
students, put on the show of defiance when refusing to give
testimony to the panel of judges.
To mock the court many of the students took off their shoes
before entering the courtroom, which was packed with their
friends.
The students from various universities in Java and grouped in
the Indonesian Youth Struggling Front also asked their lawyers
from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute not to accompany them during
the trial.
The defendants were netted on Jl. Proklamasi on Friday after
visiting the National Commission on Human Rights to protest the
dismissal of more than a thousand workers of an electronics firm
in East Java.
The workers of the Surabaya-based Maspion Group were
reportedly dismissed after participating in a mass rally on Feb.
17 to demand a wage increase.
The students were prosecuted in so-called speed trials in
three courtrooms presided over by judges Agus A.G. Dewata,
Prasadi and Endang Sumarsih.
Shortly after the judges handed down guilty verdicts on the
students for holding an unlicensed rally and sentenced them to Rp
2,000 fines or three days in jail, the defendants hastily took
off the tiny band-aids and yelled and sang.
Under the watchful eyes of dozens of police officers, the
students then left the courtroom without either responding to the
verdicts or paying the fines.
Appeal
One of the defense lawyers, Daniel Panjaitan, who witnessed
the three-hour trials from the visitors' seats in the company of
colleagues, said his clients might appeal the verdicts to the
Supreme Court.
Daniel chided the judges for arriving at the verdicts without
trying to question either the defendants or the police witnesses
or examining the available evidence.
"They should have followed trial procedures even though the
defendants refused to answer their questions," the lawyer said.
According to the judges, the defendants were found guilty of
violating Article 10 of Law no. 9/1999 on propagating opinions in
public places without proper permits and Article 510 of the
Criminal Code on illegal rallies.
Those violating the regulations face a maximum punishment of
two weeks in jail or fines of up to Rp 2,250.
On Friday, 47 students of Perbanas economic and banking
institute charged similarly for a different occasion walked out
at the same court before the judges could read out the verdict.
But the judges -- in the absence of the defendants -- fined
the protesting students the amount of Rp 2,000 each.
As in the case of Monday's trial, none of the students was
present to hear the judge' verdicts.
Daniel, also a defense lawyer on Friday, said his clients were
considering appealing the judges' decision to the Supreme Court.
(jun)