Throwing in the towel against Tommy?

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The prosecution appeared to throw in the towel on Wednesday during the cross-examination of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the alleged mastermind behind the murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita.

While Chief Prosecutor Hasan Madani normally asked probing questions, this time he seemed to skip from one question to another.

Asked about his poor performance, Hasan told reporters after the hearing that he would not waste his energy as it would be useless.

"He denied everything, including everything contained in the case file, let alone our indictment. He'll just keep on denying everything," he claimed.

Tommy is facing four charges: the murder of Syafiuddin, the illegal possession of firearms at the Cemara Apartments in Central Jakarta, and in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, and flight from justice. Each of the first three charges are capital offenses.

Despite the seriousness of the charges, Tommy's cross- examination lasted only about two-and-a-half hours.

The questions mostly concerned the charge of fleeing from justice.

Tommy calmly answered all the questions posed by Hasan and the judges, denying all suggestions of wrongdoing.

A defendant's statements during his cross-examination, Hasan said after the session, formed part of the evidence that went toward proving an indictment. But in the end, it was the judges who would make the final decision.

But the judges themselves did not seem to be overly enthusiastic about cross-examining Tommy.

On several occasions, Presiding Judge Amiruddin Zakaria interrupted Tommy's testimony to warn the spectators not to make noise.

The case is being heard by five judges: Amiruddin, Andi Samsan Nganro, Herri Swantoro, I Ketut Gde and Pramodana K. Kusumah Atmadidja.

Judge Andi Samsan Nganro admitted that he had not given his best performance on the day as he was ill.

"I jumped from one question to another because I couldn't concentrate. I have a bad flu," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that Judge Herri Swantoro was unable to attend the trial as he was suffering from typhoid. Herri was replaced by Sylvester Djuma, who did not utter a word during the hearing.

The trial will resume on July 10, when prosecutors will present their sentence recommendation for the defendant.