Ten pro-democracy students to be released
Ten pro-democracy students to be released
JAKARTA (JP): Ten students jailed on charges of insulting
President Soeharto will soon be released by order of the Supreme
Court, their lawyers said yesterday.
Student sources said their colleagues, nine in the Salemba
penitentiary and one in Pondok Bambu womens penitentiary, would
be freed this morning.
The students are part of the 21 that the Central Jakarta
district court found guilty in June of defaming Soeharto during a
demonstration in December of last year.
The students should have been released on Aug. 14 even if the
Supreme Court upheld the Jakarta High Court ruling to sentence
them to eight months imprisonment. The other 11 students received
between 10 and 14 month jail terms.
The lawyers, from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and
the Indonesian Bar Association (Ikadin), represented the students
in the lower court. However, they said yesterday said they never
appealed to the Supreme Court on the students' behalf.
They acknowledged, however, that they wrote to the Supreme
Court asking for its intervention to ensure that the students
would be released when their terms were up.
Rita Serena Kolibonso of the LBH said the lawyers obtained the
Supreme Court's letter ordering the central Jakarta district
court and the Salemba penitentiary to release the students
yesterday.
"The defense lawyers welcome the Supreme Court's positive
response to the efforts' to improve the implementation of the
laws in the students' cases," Rita said.
She said the lawyers are still waiting for the Supreme Court's
response to their request that the 11 remaining student detainees
also be freed.
The twist in the students' sentencing began when the
prosecutors could not accept the six month sentences that were
handed down by the Central Jakarta District Court.
The prosecutors appealed. The high court not only upheld the
district court's guilty verdicts but also added several months to
the sentences, which ranged between eight and 14 months. (pan)