Tommy's lawyer protests Supreme Court's opinion

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In her latest legal maneuver, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's lawyer, Elza Syarief, filed an objection against Chief Justice Bagir Manan's letter of legal opinion on Thursday, and asked him to annul the ruling.

In her letter, dated Dec.19, Elza claimed that Bagir's letter, which said Tommy must serve his jail sentence for last year's conviction on graft charges, offered no legal authority to the prosecutors to execute it.

Citing Bagir's statement, Elza argued that, since this was Supreme Court's legal opinion, no one was bound by it.

Should the prosecutors move forward on the ruling, it would violate the law by denying Tommy's rights as a free man after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction in the Goro-Bulog land scam

"I've sent a letter to the Chief Justice ... and asked him to annul the letter," Elza told reporters.

Legal expert Achmad Ali of Hassanudin University, meanwhile, played down the significance of Elza's argument, saying the prosecutors are the "law executors" -- regardless of whether they agree or disagree with the legal opinion.

Achmad added that, as an executive body, the prosecutors were required to act in accordance with rulings by those who make formal law.

Legal opinion is one of several sources of formal law, said Achmad, who also served as a special advisor to the late Attorney General Baharuddin Lopa.

"So it's up to the prosecutors whether they will voice a similar tone with the Bagir's legal opinion or not," he said.

Achmad added that the prosecutors would not violate Tommy's human rights by executing his conviction as stated in the legal opinion regarding accusations against him in the land scam.

"If Tommy first served his 18-month prison sentence, he could claim the prosecutors were violating his human rights," he said.

The head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, Antasari, previously said that the prosecutors would wait for police to complete their investigation before executing the legal opinion.

Tommy was still being interrogated on Thursday.

In addition, police have summoned Eurico Guterres, the former leader of militias that violently opposed independence in East Timor and Anto Supriyanto, one of Tommy's friends during his escape, for questioning as witnesses.