Witness testifying for Pakpahan under threat of arrest

Witness testifying for Pakpahan under threat of arrest

JAKARTA (JP): A witness testifying for labor leader Muchtar
Pakpahan was threatened yesterday with arrest for perjury.

South Jakarta district court judge, Djadzuli P. Sudibyo, said
he needed until Thursday to decide whether Berar Fathia should be
arrested or simply removed from the witness list.

The session was dominated by heated debate between the judge
and Berar's lawyers, Adnan Buyung Nasution and Luthfie M. Hakim,
over the witness' intention to withdraw the confession she made
under interrogation by government prosecutors.

Berar, an Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) activist, said she
had been intimidated by investigators when giving evidence on her
knowledge of the accused's activities.

She insisted she be allowed to "spell out the truth" in the
trial but the judge refused to allow a retraction of her
testimony, given to government prosecutors.

Judge Djadzuli insisted Berar's claims of intimidation were a
fabrication and pointed to her signature on a text of the
questioning as proof.

Pakpahan was charged with subversion for insulting President
Soeharto and the Armed Forces. The offense carries a maximum
penalty of death.

Djadzuli's rejection of Berar's request provoked an aggressive
reaction from lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution. He attacked the judge
for denying Berar the right to explain why she had changed her
testimony.

"The witness should be allowed the chance to prove her claim
she had been intimidated by the prosecutors," Buyung said. "If
this right is denied, what will the world say about this trial?"

Lawyer Luthfie said Berar was intimidated into signing the
results of her questioning. She was put in a dark room and an
investigator, Moekiat, asked her, "Look, what a beautiful starry
night outside. What's good about staying in this dark chamber?"

Luthfie said the soft intimidation had obviously been
successful in pressuring the witness to testify in line with the
interrogation results she had signed.

In response to the lawyers' protests, Djadzuli said only that
the court clerk would "note the objection."

The judge said Berar's testimony was no longer needed. The
trial was adjourned until Thursday.

Meanwhile, in a separate trial in the Central Jakarta district
court, veteran journalist Goenawan Mohamad testified in the
subversion trial of Democratic People's Party (PRD) leader
Budiman Sujatmiko.

Budiman and another eight PRD activists are charged with
organizing labor demonstrations and failing to mention the state
ideology Pancasila in the PRD statute (social democracy
principles were used instead).

Goenawan, former chief editor of Tempo weekly -- banned by the
government banned in 1994 -- testified in favor of Budiman.

He said the defendant had once managed to persuade activists
to cancel an anti-government demonstration in Jakarta in relation
to the July 27 riots last year.

The riots were sparked by the brutal takeover of the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters by a government-
backed rebel party of activists.

Goenawan said that in one of PRD's meetings he saw an activist
urge others to take to the street.

"But Budiman managed to calm his colleagues down, telling them
their action would be useless and create anarchy unless it was
supported with a clear concept," he said.

Budiman and the other PRD activists were arrested on suspicion
of masterminding the July 27 riots, which claimed five
lives.

However when they reached court prosecutors did not mention
the incident, except to say that Budiman was a bystander.

Goenawan, now the Independent Election Monitoring Committee
presidium leader, also testified he had met Budiman on the
afternoon of July 27.

"Budiman came to me telling of the earlier incident at a
foodstall in Senen. He condemned the riot as anarchy and said it
was not a civil rebellion," he said.

The trial was adjourned until Thursday. (35/08)