Woman faces one year in jail

JAKARTA (JP): An unemployed woman on trial on Thursday for possessing and smoking marijuana broke down when a prosecutor demanded a one-year jail term for her.

Wirdaningsih, 31, urged presiding judge Rusdy As'ad at the Central Jakarta District Court to give her a lighter punishment, saying that a year in prison was too much for her.

Prosecutor A. Halim Ronie said Wirdaningsih was guilty of illegally possessing 24 marijuana cigarettes and smoking others when examined by police officers during one of their regular operations in June.

"She was guilty of violating Law no. 9/1976 on narcotics," Halim said.

The requested punishment is lighter than the minimum stipulated in the existing law. The legislation says the maximum punishment is death.

Halim said that Wirdaningsih was arrested on June 26 when she and seven friends were on their way home in a Kijang van from Marimba discotheque in Hotel Central on Jl. Pramuka in Central Jakarta.

Police found the marijuana joints in a cigarette pack belonging to the defendant, he said.

Wirdaningsih, of Jl. Sunan Drajat, had been detained in Pondok Bambu since the arrest, Halim said.

Presiding judge Rusdy adjourned the trial until next week to consider his verdict. (jun)