Zarina begs court to free her of charges

JAKARTA (JP): TV actress Zarina broke into tears in court yesterday as she begged the judges to acquit her of the charges of possessing thousands of Ecstasy pills.

"Please send me home in dignity," she said, her voice faint amid sobs as she read her self-prepared closing arguments at the Central Jakarta District Court.

She insisted the Ecstasy pills found inside a safe which police seized from her rented home in West Jakarta in August belonged to a friend she identified as "Roy".

State prosecutors have asked the court to sentence 24-year-old Zarina to five years in jail for possession. They dropped the earlier charges of producing and trafficking.

"There is only one thing I wish now. I want to go home. I've been away from home for too long. I won't hold grudges against anyone for this ordeal, but I beg you not to add any more misery."

The charges against her were based on the 1992 Health Law, which sets a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment for anyone caught producing or distributing dangerous drugs, of which Ecstasy falls under the definition.

"What will become of me and my future? Will I have to go to jail and carry the sins of others, and later be branded an ex- convict?" Zarina asked.

"I'm not the owner, seller or user or possessor of Ecstasy," she said, adding she had never smoked or touched alcohol in her life and rarely went to a discotheque.

"My only mistake is that I was too trusting, I never suspected others, including friends. But do I have to go to prison for this?" she asked.

Zarina said she escaped and fled to Houston, Texas, because of her frustrations at police treatment while under interrogation, and because she was terrified.

She said her interrogators kept tampering with the evidence and directed their questions to pin the guilt on her. She said press reports suggesting that she tried to pay her way out by bribing the police was another attempt to intimidate her.

"I ran when I saw the chance. I had to find Roy so that he could take responsibility for his actions.

"During the search, I really suffered, because I was running away from the police on the one hand and I was terrified of Roy's friends on the other. I thought that amount of Ecstasy must have been expensive and owned by a mafia (syndicate).

"I got even more scared when I read in newspapers that I, a former national athlete, had become a national fugitive. They (the media) crowned me the Queen of Ecstasy," she said.

"I cried and cried every day. So I asked for the help of Allah... and I found myself in Houston," she said, adding that her return and surrender in December was of her own accord.

She described the ordeal as a trial from God. "Don't misinterpret my smile, because sometimes I smile and forgive those who do evil things to me. I hope Allah will too." (emb/12)