Three men jailed for 12 years for murdering Marsinah

JAKARTA (JP): The Surabaya District Court yesterday sentenced three men to 12 years imprisonment each for their role in the murder of labor activist Marsinah last year.

Presiding judge Sarijanto found the three men guilty in the conspiracy to murder Marsinah. In his verdict, he said that all three took part in the sadistic killings of the labor activist, including sexually abusing her before her death.

The three men are all employees of PT Citra Putra Surya, the watchmaking company in Sidoarjo near Surabaya where Marsinah worked. They are Bambang Wuryantoro (37 years), an employee, Widayat (43), a driver and Achmad Sutiono Prayogi (51), a security guard.

Hundreds of people who were following the trial in the court room cheered and applauded as Sarijanto announced the decision at the end of his five-hour long reading of the verdicts.

All three men, who have maintained their innocence, quickly said they were appealing their sentences.

The government prosecutors, who earlier demanded a 13-year imprisonment for each of the three, said they needed time to think.

Widayat's lawyer Fauzie Fadhlan said he believed that the trial had not been fair because there had been so many pressures on the judges, including intimidation by those present at the trial.

The lawyers representing the other two men, Willy Juniadi and Wiyono Subagyo, concurred that the judges had not made an independent judgment in passing the verdict. They said they were hoping for a fairer decision at the high court.

The three are among nine defendants who have been brought to court in connection with the murder of Marsinah.

Mutiari, a lone women suspect who was proven guilty of being an accomplice in the murder, had been jailed for seven months in the prison in Sidoarjo. She was released last week but has continued to appeal against the sentence.

Marsinah's mutilated body was found in Nganjuk on May 9, 1993, five days after she led a strike at the factory demanding better treatment for the workers.

Statements

Judge Sarijanto said the three men carried out the murder under the orders of Yudi Susanto, the company's director and the main defendant in the murder trials.

The judge said the decision was based on statements given to the police interrogators and the testimonies they each gave at the trial of Mutiari.

Then, according to their testimony, they admitted that they were offered Rp 1.5 million each by Yudi to kill Marsinah and to dispose of her body, the judge said.

The judge also recalled that they testified to two meetings, both led by Yugi, during which the plan to carry out the murder was planned.

The fact that they had since retracted their incriminating statements at other trials including their own, did not change that position, he said.

Two domestic servants who worked at Yudi Susanto's house also testified in court that the three men brought Marsinah to the house and took her away three days later during which she was bound and gagged and not allowed to eat.

A military corporal also testified in court to the fact that he saw one of the men riding a motorcycle with Marsinah on back on the night she was reported to have been taken to Yudi's house.

Fauzie deplored the judges for sticking to only the first testimonies and the signed statement to the interrogators, stressing that those were made because they had been tortured.

All the nine defendants have since retracted their incriminating statements. (rms/emb)