Students jailed for defaming Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): The gallery at the Central Jakarta District Court exploded in outrage yesterday when the 21 students in the Soeharto defamation trials where sentenced to six months each.

The initial reaction of the defendants and their supporters in the packed courtroom was relief at sentences that were lighter than anticipated.

But as the significance of the guilty verdicts began to sink in, a noisy protest erupted, with the spectators calling the trial process a farce.

"This is a mockery of justice!" shouted a member of the gallery.

The sentenced students, mostly dressed in black T-shirts, said they would appeal the verdicts because they were being punished for expressing their opinions.

The 21 students were found guilty of besmirching the good name of President Soeharto during a demonstration at the House of Representatives (DPR) on Dec. 14.

At the time, they criticized the government's overt concern with security, on which they blamed a series of violent incidents in recent years. They also demanded that the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) hold an emergency session to ask Soeharto to account for his leadership.

The court agreed with the prosecutors that their yelling and brandishing of insulting banners where attacks on the name of Soeharto, and that they deserved to land in prison.

"Everybody should protect the President's dignity," said Soetrisno who presided over one of the three trials.

Soetrisno said one of the most offensive words they used was when the students demanded that the MPR "collar" Soeharto.

"The word is linked to animals. This word is unethical," he said. "Weren't there other words which would not have offended somebody's feelings?"

The 21 students, including two women, were tried in three separate groups. One group consisted of four, another six and the other 11. The stiffest term was sought for Yeni Rosa Damayanti and Adi Kurniawan, regarded as the masterminds.

But the court decided to punish them equally although the prosecutors had sought punishments of between eight and 18 months in prison.

Given the time they have been in detention since December 14, they will only need to spend a few more weeks.

There was commotion in the court room as well as outside the court building, with students jeering and sneering at the court. The raucous behavior occurred before, during and after the court session.

After the trials, the supporters surged forward to the court room, standing on the benches provided for the defense lawyers and the prosecutors as they vented their anger at the court.

Disturbances

There were disturbances before the trial as well, when the defendants banged and kicked the cell where they were being kept before the hearing. The students threw insults at a police officer who had apparently asked one of them to hand over his T- shirt.

On the parking lot, a group of supporters staged a mock trial.

Nine students were taken away by the police when they tried to enter the court building dressed up as mummies.

Many of the students' lawyers considered the students sentences as light in view of the fact that the same court two months earlier handed Nuku Soleiman, also a student activist, a four year prison term for the same offense.

Lawyer Frans Hendra Winarta of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) said however that his clients could not accept the sentence as a matter of principle.

Frans questioned why the judges in reading their verdicts made no reference to any of the arguments that the defense had presented before the court, including the fact that freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution.

A number of prominent government's critics testified for the students during the trials, including Abdurrahman Wahid, Sabam Sirait, Sri Bintang Pamungkas and Ali Sadikin. (par)