Tri Agus gets two years for insulting leader

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta District Court yesterday sentenced Tri Agus S. Siswowihardjo, an activist of human rights group Pijar Foundation, to two years imprisonment for insulting President Soeharto.

Presiding judge Leo Hutagalung said in his verdict that Tri Agus was found guilty of insulting the President through Kabar dari Pijar (News from Pijar) bulletin.

Tri Agus, as editor of the bulletin, ran a series of protests and meetings after the government banned three weeklies Tempo, DeTik, and Editor, Hutagalung said.

Tri Agus wrote an article in the June 1994 edition of the bulletin, which was deemed insulting to the President, he said.

The judge said that as the editor of the Kabar dari Pijar, Tri Agus should take responsibility for the bulletin's content. "Therefore, I decide to sentence Tri Agus to two years in jail," he said, pointing out that the defendant violated Article 134 of the Criminal Code.

Hutagalung said that he based his sentencing on two aggravating factors: First, the defendant showed no regret for his crime, and second he had been rude towards the authorities and the prosecution during the trial.

The maximum sentence for someone found guilty of violating the article is six years imprisonment.

State prosecutor Baginda Lumban Gaol previously demanded that the judge sentence Tri Agus to four years in jail, saying that what he had done could weaken the public's trust in the government.

Responding to the judge's decision, Tri Agus' lawyer, Trimedya Panjaitan, said he would appeal the sentence and claimed that some of the evidence had been manipulated by the prosecution.

Trimedya has denounced the criminal code under which Tri Agus was tried as a leftover of Dutch colonial rule which has lost its formal legal grounds.

"I will fight for my rights and justice," Tri Agus insisted.

Yesterday's trial was attended by more than 100 activists and students and was tightly guarded by police officers. At least 40 policemen kept watch over the site.

After the court session ended, the officials asked the visitors to leave the court house, saying that the crowd could disturb public order.

Lt. Col. Murawi Effendi confirmed that a visitor had been taken into custody for questioning. The person was suspected of distributing leaflets of the Pijar Foundation which protested the sentencing of Tri Agus, he said.

Tri Agus was the third Indonesian journalist to be jailed this month. Ahmad Taufik and Eko Maryadi, two journalists from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), were sentenced to 32 months each in jail earlier this month. (29)