Trials for Tommy, Akbar tainted by 'bangsat' incident
Trials for Tommy, Akbar tainted by 'bangsat' incident
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The trial of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra resumed on Wednesday.
But presiding judge Amiruddin Zakaria made use of the occasion to
defend himself for his failure to stop the war of words (many of
which have been of the very obscene variety) between a lawyer for
House of Representatives' Speaker Akbar Tandjung and a prosecutor
who is handling Akbar's case.
Tommy's case has nothing to do with the ongoing graft trial of
Akbar, it just happens that Amiruddin is the presiding judge in
both cases.
In Akbar's hearing on Monday, lawyer John Waliry and
prosecutor Fachmi called each other bangsat (bastard). But the
court did not immediately put an end to the heated expletive-
filled discourse, which sparked criticism from legal observers
who believed that the incident was a violation, specifically,
contempt of court.
"I would like to comment on the bangsat incident. Critics said
that I was not firm in leading Monday's hearing. I wondered about
the criticism as I had led the hearing properly. Should I have
taken off my robe and stopped the conflict physically or should I
have asked a guard to fire a shot?" Amiruddin said in a rising
voice soon after he opened Wednesday's hearing.
Visibly upset, he asked the critics not to comment on the
incident as they were not present in the hearing.
"It happened only for a few seconds and I had ordered them to
stop the argument," Amiruddin said.
Monday's incident occurred after John gave a comment on the
testimony of a prosecuting witness. John said it was auditio, a
Latin legal term referring to hearsay. The prosecutor said it was
not necessary to use the word, because the witness did not
understand what auditio meant. John said it was his chance to
speak but Fachmi said he had the right to speak because he was
the one who presented the witness.
John then shouted bangsat to chief prosecutor Fachmi, who
immediately returned the profanity.
They finally stopped hurling obscenities after Amiruddin said
the judges would walk out of the courtroom if they did not stop.
On the sidelines of the hearing, Amiruddin said that the
situation had been settled and both men had forgiven each other.
Meanwhile, Tommy's lawyers returned to court on Wednesday
after they boycotted the hearing last week due to the police
detention of their colleague, Elza Syarief.
Elza is accused of bribing two witnesses so they would give
perjurious statements in the trial of Tommy, who is accused of
murder and illegal possession of firearms.
The court heard the testimony from eight witnesses on
Wednesday. Two of them are security guards of Pondok Indah
housing complex, South Jakarta, who were present during the raid
on Tommy's rented house in the area last year.
The police found several firearms, explosives, ammunition and
documents in the house.