Trial of Zarina to continue despite protests

JAKARTA (JP): The West Jakarta District Court panel of judges trying Zarina for possessing 29,677 Ecstasy pills rejected her lawyers' objections to the indictment and decided to proceed with the trial.

Presiding Judge Sumantri said in yesterday's session that her lawyers' objection to the indictment on the grounds that it was unclear was incorrect.

In the objection read to the court last week Zarina's lawyers said the prosecutors' charge that Zarina had produced and distributed the Ecstasy pills was absurd.

The judges said yesterday that continuing with the trial would determine the correctness of the indictment, Antara reported.

Her lawyers, Amir Syamsudin, OC Kaligis, Henry Yosodiningrat and Nurhasyim Ilyas also claimed the indictment was incomplete.

According to the judges, the indictment was complete, legal and the trial should go on.

The lawyers accepted the judges' decision and agreed to the adjournment of the trial until March 6, when witnesses will be heard.

The would-be TV actress, Zarina, is charged with possessing 29,677 Ecstasy pills at her residence in West Jakarta.

The indictment says the 24-year-old defendant violated Article 80 (4) or Article 40 (1) of 1992 Health Law No. 23.

The possession and trafficking of Ecstasy is illegal under 1992 Health Law No. 23, and it is punishable by up to 15 years jail or a fine of up to Rp 300 million (US$124,000).

The House of Representatives has endorsed a bill on psychotropic drugs that, when passed, will allow courts to hand down the death penalty to Ecstasy traffickers. The bill is awaiting a directive to become effective.

The defendant graced the court yesterday in a cream blazer and trousers, white high-heeled shoes and white handbag. She carried a book titled Hak-hak Asasi Manusia (Human Rights).

The trial attracted a crowd again yesterday of curious onlookers wanting to see the woman whose pre-trial antics, mid- trial wardrobe and just recently reported pregnancy continue to spice local headlines.

Zarina "confessed" her pregnancy to a reporter.

Pos Kota daily reported the defendant's urine test for pregnancy was negative.

Her lawyers and police officers issued an official statement saying Zarina's "pregnancy" was just a rumor started by her joke with the reporter.

Edwin, Zarina's former boy friend, told Pos Kota that reports on Zarina's pregnancy did not surprise him. "She had many men," Edwin said, quoted the daily. He had lived with Zarina for two years. (sur)