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)