Student denies stoning policeman

JAKARTA (JP): A university student denied throwing rocks at a policeman during a demonstration in Central Jakarta in June. He told the court yesterday it might have been someone else.

"I was wearing a white T-shirt," the 19-year-old defendant told the Central Jakarta District Court.

"I was definitely not wearing a cream-colored, long-sleeved shirt as testified by one of the prosecutor's witnesses," he said, reading his closing statement.

Prosecutor Tony Spontana demanded last week that the panel of judges sentence the student to eight months in prison. He said the defendant had thrown several rocks at a police officer, causing severe head injuries.

The student from the Jakarta Institute of Social and Political Sciences was arrested during clashes between police and some 100 students who were demonstrating at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation office.

In an earlier hearing, police Second Sergeant M. Rusdi testified that he saw the defendant, wearing a cream-colored, long-sleeved shirt, pelting rocks at a fellow officer.

The defendant said he was definitely wearing a white T-shirt when he was arrested and taken to the Kramat Police precinct.

He said he changed into a long-sleeved shirt at the police precinct, because his T-shirt was covered in blood: "I even changed in front of a police investigator."

He said the blood stains had come his own wounds which he sustained during interrogation.

Presiding judge Asmar Ismail earlier told the defendant that he should take his accusation that the police beat him to a military tribunal because the court had no authority in the matter.

Lawyer Trimedya Panjaitan, who led the defense, called for an acquittal because the trial had failed to prove the crime was committed by his client.

He said there was confusion about what the defendant was wearing, and that the prosecutor had not produced the cream- colored shirt as evidence.

Yulius Hermanto, factory worker, was the only independent witness to the incident. He told the court he saw the defendant being arrested. He did not say the student threw rocks at the police, Trimedya said.

The lawyer said his client was arrested as he tried to calm fellow students during the clash.

The trial was adjourned until next Friday. (16)