Three-year jail term sought for alleged abortionist
Three-year jail term sought for alleged abortionist
JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor asked the Central Jakarta District
Court yesterday to sentence a clinic owner to three years in jail
and fine her Rp 3 million for overseeing illegal abortions.
Prosecutor Yunan Harjoko told the court that Kurniasih alias
Cicih, 51, the owner of Amalia clinic in Tanah Tinggi, was
involved in the abortion of an average of 10 babies and fetuses a
day since 1995 until she was arrested last December.
According to Yunan, Cicih has been proved guilty, along with
two doctors, identified as Budiman and Jaya Lelana, in the
illegal medical practice.
The mother of one had even admitted to all the charges, he
said.
"The defendant had given a bad example for the public and
smeared the country's medical community by conducting the illegal
abortions," Yunan told the court.
He said the defendant examined patients and decided the price
for the abortion before it was performed by the doctors.
She charged clients between Rp 300,000 and Rp 750,000 each,
depending on the term of their pregnancies, he said.
The defendant is one of the 13 suspects in illegal abortion
practices which hit the headlines late last year.
The suspects were apprehended by police following the
discovery of 11 babies and fetuses wrapped in plastic bags in a
garbage dump in Warakas, North Jakarta, last November.
Following the arrest, police also found 10 babies' bones and
the skeleton of an infant buried in eight different holes in the
backyard of a school for disabled children on Jl. Arief Rachman
Hakim 5B, also in Central Jakarta.
After a series of investigations, police determined the
fetuses and remains from the Amalia and Herlina clinics.
One of Cicih's partners, Budiman, is also on trial at the same
court. A prosecutor will make the sentencing demand for Budiman
Friday.
Jaya, the other doctor, is a military doctor and will be tried
by a military tribunal.
Prosecutor Yunan said yesterday Cicih had violated Article 15
(1) of Health Law No. 23/1992.
He also asked the court to seize medical equipment used in the
illegal abortions.
Shortly after Yunan finished reading his demand statement, a
speechless Cicih was racked by sobs.
Presiding judge Endang Sumarsih adjourned the trial until next
week to hear the defendant's plea.
In a separate room in the same court yesterday, four employees
of the two clinics demanded the court set them free, arguing that
they were only employees and had nothing to do with the illegal
practice.
Prosecutor Sinta Sasanti asked the court last week to sentence
the four defendants to two years in jail each for their
involvement in the abortion practice. (jun)