Students in defamation trial cite constitutional rights

JAKARTA (JP): Four students who are being accused of defaming President Soeharto during a demonstration last December told the court on Saturday that at the time they were simply exercising their constitutional rights.

The students also denied that their chants and posters amounted to a defamation of the head of state.

"We went to the House of Representatives (DPR) to ask the legislators if they truly represented the people who voted for them. We were asking them to fulfill the promises they made before they were elected," said Adi Kurniawan during a cross examination at the Jakarta District Court.

Kurniawan is one of the four defendants in the trial. The other three are Hendrik Dikson Sirait, Yeni Rosa Damayanti, and Masduki.

They were arrested along with 17 others during a demonstration at the DPR on Dec. 14 demanding that the People's Consultative Assembly convene an emergency session to ask Soeharto to account for some of the violent incidents that occurred in the country in recent years. The other 17 students are also on trial in two separate trials.

The government prosecutors said the poems, posters and the chants insulted the good name of the President. The maximum penalty for defaming the head of state is six years imprisonment.

The four defendants on Saturday said it was within their constitutional rights to air their opinions, specially at the DPR which was supposed to embody the people's sovereignty.

Kurniawan said the poems that were read by the students were not the same ones that were presented by the police officers who had earlier testified for prosecutors. "The poems presented by the prosecutors were fabricated," he said.

To convince the panel of judges, Yeni read one of the poems before the court, the work of W.S. Rendra, entitled Pertemuan Mahasiswa (Students' Gathering).

The students also used the opportunity on Saturday to complain about the police brutality when they were arrested and during the subsequent interrogations.

"It's sad that the House, which is supposed to be a safe haven for the people, was turned into a battle arena when the security officers barged in to arrest us," Yeni said. (01)