Yogyakarta journo's alleged killer claims he was framed

Yogyakarta journo's alleged killer claims he was framed

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The defendant in the controversial murder
case of a local journalist said yesterday he had been framed by
the police to confess to committing the crime.

Dwi Sumaji, alias Iwik, said in his defense before the Bantul
district court that police had concocted a scheme to make him
look guilty of murdering Bernas reporter Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin
in August last year.

The defendant said an undercover police officer named Franki
had offered him money, a job, a house and car in exchange for his
confession to killing Fuad, better known as Udin.

According to Iwik he was supposed to have committed the murder
out of jealousy because Udin was having an affair with his wife,
Sunarti.

Iwik said he later learned Franki was Chief Sgt. Edi Wuryanto,
a detective at Bantul police precinct in Yogyakarta.

"I have been sacrificed for a political business and to
protect a political mafia ... Based on the truth and for the sake
of justice, I ask the panel of judges to reject the prosecutor's
charges," Iwik told the court presided over by Judge Endang Sri
Murwati.

Applause from hundreds of onlookers in the courtroom was heard
often when Iwik read out his five-page defense, which he wrote
himself.

Iwik's trial began last week after the Bantul Prosecutor's
Office had previously rejected the police dossiers on him four
times. Many believe the police arrested the wrong man and that
the murder was related to Udin's reports on corruption at the
regency's administration.

Udin's wife, Marsiyem, a key witness in the case, has
repeatedly testified that Iwik was not one of the men who beat
her husband to death.

Iwik, a driver of an advertising firm, said he met Franki in
October.

On Oct. 21, just a few days after their first meeting, Iwik
said Franki invited him out, got him drunk made him sleep with a
prostitute. "I was still drunk and confused when I agreed to
Franki's scenario that I killed Udin after learning he'd had an
affair with my wife," he said.

Iwik said Franki eventually took him to someone by the name of
Jendra who's house is located in the Bantul police housing
complex. There he gave his false confession.

He said he made another confession before Yogyakarta police
chief, then Col. Mulyono Sulaiman, also at Franki's orders, with
the hope that he would be released.

But instead Iwik found himself charged with premeditated
murder. Iwik was kept in police detention for three months.

The charge of premeditated murder carries a maximum penalty of
death.

One of Iwik's lawyers, Triyandi Mulkan, told the court that
the prosecutor's charges were illogical because they were based
on a fictitious scenario.

The trial was adjourned until next Tuesday. (22/amd)