Tommy's trial again adjourned due to absent witnesses
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The hearing of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra was adjourned on Friday because of the absence of seven prosecution witnesses who were scheduled to testify at the Central Jakarta District Court.
The absence of the witnesses without just cause hampers the legal process against Tommy. Legally, a defendant can only be detained for a certain period of time. If Tommy's detention period expires before the trial is over, he would have to be released.
Tommy's detention period, which began in November last year, will end in approximately two months.
On Friday, presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria opened the hearing at 10 a.m., one hour behind schedule, only to postpone it for another hour to wait for the witnesses.
When the witnesses failed to appear, the judge adjourned the trial until Tuesday.
Among the seven witnesses who failed to appear were Dion Hardi and Kennedy "Kenny" Nanik, both businessmen and associates of Tommy, and Firna Sofia Hilal, the wife of Noval Hadad, the man allegedly hired by Tommy to kill Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita on July 26 last year.
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Noval to life in prison last month for his role in the murder of Syafiuddin, one of the judges who convicted Tommy for graft.
Judge Amiruddin ordered chief prosecutor Hasan Madani to force witness Dion to appear at the next hearing, as he had already ignored two summons. Last week, Dion refused to appear in court, claiming he had health problems.
The failure of the witnesses to appear only adds to the list of "interruptions" in the trial of Tommy, who is charged with the murder of Syafiuddin, the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and flight from justice.
If found guilty of the murder and firearms charges, Tommy, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, could be sentenced to death.
Last month, Tommy' sister, Siti Hutami "Mamiek" Endang Adiningsih, failed to appear in court to testify because of health problems.
When prosecutors summoned her for the second times, Mamiek refused to testify on the grounds that Article 168 of the Criminal Code Procedures protects siblings of a defendant from having to take the witness stand.
On May 6, Tommy's lawyers asked the court to postpone the trial following the arrest of Elza Syarief, who was leading Tommy's defense. Elza was arrested on charges of bribing witnesses to lie in court during Tommy's trial.
Two days later, the court had to adjourn the hearing because Tommy's lawyers refused to appear in court as a protest against Elza's detention.
After the hearing was adjourned on Friday, Central Jakarta District Court spokesman Andi Samsan Nganro announced that Tommy's trial was being moved from the Jakarta Fairground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, to a hall of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, also in Kemayoran.
The trial is being relocated because the annual Jakarta Fair begins on June 14.
The corruption trial of House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung will also be moved from the fairground to the hall of the meteorology agency on Jl. Angkasa, which can house about 500 people.
"We will use the agency's Mega auditorium, and we expect to use it until the completion of both trials as it is rather inconvenient to move the trials several times," said Andi, who is also on the panels of judges hearing Tommy and Akbar's cases.
Tommy and Akbar's trials started out in the Central Jakarta District Court building on Jl. Gajah Mada. Both trials were moved because the courtrooms cannot accommodate a large number of spectators, and also due to security concerns.
At the Jakarta Fairground, the trials were moved from hall to hall. At first, hearings were held in the fully air-conditioned Hall B2, but then moved to Hall C2 and later to Hall A1.