Tommy's trial postponed due to his lawyers' absence

Tommy's trial postponed due to his lawyers' absence

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Central Jakarta District Court postponed on Wednesday the
trial of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra due to the absence of his
lawyers, who were protesting over the arrest of their colleague,
Elza Syarief, for allegedly bribing witnesses.

Tommy delivered a letter from the lawyers to Presiding Judge
Amiruddin Zakaria, who opened the hearing at 1.55 p.m in Hall C2
of the Jakarta Fairground.

Judge Amiruddin read out the letter, which was signed by
Indriyanto Seno Adji, Juan Felix Tampubolon, M. Assegaf, O.C.
Kaligis and Wimboyono Seno Adji.

The lawyers said that they had decided to stay away to show
their solidarity with their colleague Elza, who is now under
police detention, as well as protesting against the police
action, which they claimed interferred with the trial.

They asked the panel of judges to suspend Tommy's trial until
Elza's case, as well as those of Rahmat Hidayat and Tatang
Somantri, were settled.

The lawyers asked the judges to issue a ruling on their
request.

However, the judges rejected their request on the ground that
Elza's detention had occurred outside the trial.

"We cannot suspend the trial as these are two separate
matters. The detaining of Elza is beyond our jurisdiction," said
Judge Amiruddin.

He then asked both Tommy and chief prosecutor Hasan Madani
whether they wished to proceed with the trial or whether it
should be recessed.

Hasan said that the absence of the lawyers meant nothing
legally speaking and suggested that the court proceed with the
hearing. But Tommy insisted on a recess given the absence of his
lawyers.

According to Article 54 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code,
a suspect or a defendant has a right to be accompanied by his
lawyers during questioning or during the hearing.

Judge Amiruddin adjourned the hearing until next Wednesday.

"With or without the defendant's lawyers, we will resume the
trial next week," he asserted, referring to the letter saying
that the lawyers would be absent from Wednesday's hearing only,
and that they would be back to represent Tommy next week.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara
said that it was the investigating team that had the authority to
free Elza Syarief, who has been detained since Monday.

"It's up to the investigators to decide whether or not they
still need Elza for their investigations," Makbul told reporters.

Elza was arrested following accusations that she had bribed
Rahmat and Tatang, who are currently under detention at Jakarta
Police Headquarters, to lie during Tommy's trial.

She said that she gave Rp 1 million each to both of the former
guards at the Soeharto family-owned Cemara Apartment to buy new
clothes for attending the hearing on April 10.

But Rahmat has confessed that Elza gave them Rp 2 million each
to deny the veracity of the statements they had made to police.

During the hearing on April 10, they both denied that the
signatures on their statements were actually theirs. The police
arrested Rahmat on April 14 and Tatang a couple of days later for
violating Article 242 of the Criminal Code on perjury, which
carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

Elza is facing the same charge.