Students sentenced for assault

JAKARTA: Eighty four students who attacked a man they suspected of being an intelligence officer appeared at the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday and were each ordered to pay a Rp 25,000 (US$2.8) fine or spend three days in police detention.

The students had on Wednesday staged a rally in front of the office of the Jakarta chapter of the Golkar Party, demanding the dissolution of the party. But it turned into a brawl with security personnel, leaving some students injured.

Taking their wounded friends to the nearby St. Carolus Hospital, the students saw a man sitting in the waiting room and attacked him as they mistakenly thought he was an intelligence officer monitoring them. The victim was slightly injured.

Opening the trial, which lasted only in 20 minutes, presiding judge I Ketut Gede spent the first five minutes berating the students who had risen and chanted the songs they often sang at rallies as the panel of judges entered the courtroom.

"The court has sentenced you ... for you know what," he said, banging down the gavel, ignoring the students' demands to have their charge read out.

According to the court transcript, the students were found guilty of assault and trespass.

The courtroom was packed with the defendants and their friends as well as dozens of riot police.--JP