Supreme Court to halt pre-disaster trials

Supreme Court to halt pre-disaster trials

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Supreme Court plans to issue a circular declaring the
cessation of on-going cases that were being heard in district
courts, religious courts, state administrative courts, sharia
courts and the high court in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, an
official says.

Supreme Court secretary-general Gunanto Suryono, said on
Wednesday that the decision was made following the devastating
earthquake and tsunamis in the province, which destroyed 32
courts in towns affected by the Dec. 26 disaster.

"This was a force majeur -- everything is gone. The calamity
destroyed the court buildings, equipment and documents and killed
many judges, court clerks and other court employees.

"Worse still, we do not know the condition of the parties
involved in the cases, such as defendants in criminal cases, or
the accused and the plaintiff in civilian cases," he said after a
ceremony welcoming two judges in Aceh who had escaped the
disaster.

Gunanto said the Supreme Court is currently focusing its
efforts on locating and supporting judges, court clerks and court
employees who survived the catastrophe.

"We have sent a delegation to provide them with aid as they
have lost everything. The delegation will also ensure that they
obtain their salaries, which they are in dire need of," he said.

The number of judges who survived the disaster has not yet
been calculated. Teuku Syarafi, a judge with Jantho District
Court who survived the calamity, said he had no information about
the whereabouts of his colleagues.

For the sake of law enforcement in the province, the Supreme
Court plans to resume court activities later this month. It will
utilize the buildings of the Aceh administrative affairs and high
courts and the military court in Banda Aceh.

"We expect to assign judges from other towns in Aceh that
survived the disaster, as well as from outside the province this
month," he said, adding that the court would hear cases that
occurred after the catastrophe.

Separately, Chief Justice Bagir Manan said that the Supreme
Court would operate a court "similar to courts during times of
war" to support law enforcement in the province.

"The police have requested that we open a court to hear cases
involving looting," he said.

According to the police, Bagir said, some people in Aceh have
already been arrested for the crime.

"We will design speedy trials with one judge for cases like
that," he said.

The court would usually assign a panel of three judges to hear
a criminal case. Quick trials with one judge are mostly applied
for traffic violations.

The Attorney General's Office has taken over the authority of
the prosecutor's offices in Aceh, which were also paralyzed by
the disaster. A number of prosecutors have been reported dead or
missing.

The duties of prosecutor's offices in Aceh have since been
carried out by prosecutor's offices in neighboring Medan, North
Sumatra.