Three men jailed for 12 years for murdering Marsinah

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)