Zarina's lawyer arrested for using faked document

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives arrested a lawyer of well-known drug suspect Zarina Mirafsur on Tuesday for submitting a fake document during his client's trial.

Before scores of journalists and onlookers, plainclothes officers escorted Petrus Bala Pattyona into a Kijang van in front of the South Jakarta District Court.

"We detained Petrus Bala Pattyona and took him to (Jakarta Police Headquarters) for investigation. Three of his colleagues are still hiding in the prosecutor's room at the South Jakarta District Court," city police detectives chief Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said.

As of Tuesday night the fate of these three lawyers, identified as Ali Mazi, Pascalis Pieter and Roy Rening, remained unclear.

A police officer said the three had gone to city police headquarters to inquire after their colleague, but this could not be confirmed.

Petrus was arrested by police detectives soon after a session of Zarina's trial at the South Jakarta District Court ended at around 1 p.m.

The four lawyers are representing Zarina in a lawsuit against the Jakarta Police. In the suit, Zarina claims she was coerced into signing a dossier in which she was named a suspect in a drug case.

Alex said his men learned that Zarina's lawyers presented a fake confession in the trial. The confession in question is a statement signed by Ahian Santoso, alias Yeye.

In the statement, Yeye, who along with Zarina was arrested in a West Jakarta apartment with several grams of drugs and drug paraphernalia on Nov. 11, admits that the drugs in the apartment belonged to him.

"But Yeye later sent a letter to his wife saying that he didn't write the confession; that the confession was written by one of (Zarina's) lawyers.

"Later, Yeye confessed ... and it has also been aired on television stations ... that the handwriting on the document is definitely not his," Alex said.

Zarina, who after her 1996 arrest for storing some 30,000 ecstasy pills escaped police custody and fled to the United States, where she was nabbed, has repeatedly denied the drugs found in the apartment were hers.

She maintains she was present in the apartment to help Yeye conquer his drug addiction.

Upon his arrival at Jakarta Police Headquarters, Petrus, escorted by two detectives, told reporters he had been handled rudely by police officers.

"Please, officers, stop pushing me ... ," he said. "I've been dragged, pushed and kicked. I'm tired of you."

He also insisted Yeye's confession was authentic. "Yeye wrote the confession himself when he was in city police detention. There are witnesses to it."

Alex said his office would provide details of the case at a media conference on Wednesday. (01)