Three month jail sought for students

Three month jail sought for students

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors asked the court for a three-month imprisonment on
Monday for three University of Indonesia (UI) students who were
arrested for "violating the law on freedom of expression" and
"disturbing public order."

Prosecutor M. Manik told the Central Jakarta District Court
that defendants Rico Marbun, Fathul Nugroho and Ardi Purnawan
Sani had violated Law No. 9/1998 on freedom of expression as they
allegedly did not inform the police before holding a rally near
the official residence of President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Jl.
Teuku Umar in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

He also charged the three students with violating Article 218
of the Criminal Code on disobeying orders given by the police to
disperse.

"For those violations, the defendants should be thrown in
prison for three months with four months of probation," Manik
told the court.

Lawyer Taufik Basari, who leads the defense team, told
reporters after the trial that his team would have one last
chance to sum up and rebut the prosecutors' allegations.

"We will make a move against the charges, as we believe that
the accusation is baseless. What they did during the rally was
merely to express the disgruntlement felt by the people," he
said.

He said that a conviction would set a bad precedent for
democracy in the country.

"President Megawati Soekarnoputri should not repeat the
mistakes of the past regime, which crushed the prodemocracy
movement," Taufik said.

Rico, the former chairman of the UI Student Executive Body
(BEM), said that despite the sentence demand of only three
months, the trial was part of the government's effort to curb
democracy and criticism in the country.

"More trials against pro-democracy people who express their
views will follow," he said.

The three students were named suspects after staging rallies
demanding a reduction in utility prices, the halting of the
privatization drive and tougher action against embezzlers,
outside the official residence of the President earlier this
year.