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.