Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Corruption Fighter is Facing Death Sentence


During yesterday's trial at the District Court of Central Jakarta, the Prosecutors have requested the judges to punish former Anti Corruption agency (KPK) Chief Antasari Azhar with a death sentence for murdering Nasrudin Zulkarnaen.

This request is surprising because in previous court trials some key witnesses have denied allegations made by the Prosecutor and the Police, among others as follows :
1) Pol. Colonel Wiliardi Wizar who was accused of coordinating the murder has withdrawn his testimony
against Antasari, he said that Deputy Chief Detective Insp. Gen. Hadiatmoko has pressured him to testify that Antasari ordered the murder of Nasrudin. After that he apologized to Antasari for all the trouble.
2) Although Hadiatmoko denied by saying he has nothing to do with the case, but his ex boss Susno Duaji
testified that the National Police Chief Bambang Danuri has assigned Hadiatmoko to handle the case
3) Forensic expert Mu'nim stated that his Coroner's report was not appropriate  because  when he received Nasrudin's body, it was already manipulated i.e head baldly shaves and wound on his forehead stitched.
4) The ability of the civilians who were accused of executing the murder were in doubt

The above development, and previous unsuccessful attempts to link KPK Deputy Chief Bibit and Chandra with corruption charges, have caused public speculation that Antasari may have been a victim of conspiracy to undermine the KPK. For detailed media reports on the above, please click here, here and here.

I hope that the court's judges would wisely consider all aspects, especially justice and legal certainty, before passing their judgment on this very high profile case, so that justice shall prevail and the law enforcement agencies can focus attention on important matters like the mysterious flow of Rp 6.7 Trillion of tax payers' money to Bank Century.

Photo : Courtesy of The Jakarta Globe.

10 comments:

colson said...

"I hope that the court's judges would wisely consider all aspects";indeed let's hope the judges are brave, keep their cool, honor their independence, act profesionally and exclusively call on their ratio.

(According to the publicity one may fear that very irresponsible powers by and by risk -because of the energy used for national scandals, i.c. Bank Century and this murder/slander case- bringing the government of a great country to a standstill)

Unknown said...

Colson,

Too many people seems to have interests in this case. Corruptors want Antasari and KPK down so that they can always be free to do anything they have been doing.
When KPK show its 'fangs' they tried all they can to eradicate it.

All we can do now is hope and pray that the court would pass judgment that would be best for the interest of majority people.

Rob Baiton said...

Harry...

This is an important case too. It is important for many reasons. Nevertheless, and even though some key testimony was retracted, not all the testimony and the case has been retracted.

So, my question would be this, are the 4 points you raise sufficient to cause some degree of reasonable doubt in the judges mind that either AA was not involved or if he was that his involvement does not warrant a firing squad?

I am anti-death penalty and therefore would not be arguing for it in any shape or form. However, it is on the Indonesian statute books and therefore can be used as a sentence. It can be used without breaking any international law or obligations on Indonesia as well.

The spotlight that has been on this case almost ensures that the judges will "wisely consider" the testimony before the court and the demand of the prosecutors, does it not?

The Bank Century case is an interesting one, also for many reasons. But, I find the IDR 6.7 trillion arguments a little short on substance. There has not been a loss of IDR 6.7 trillion, has there?

If one was to audit the assets remaining, then the figure that could be considered to be a loss is a lot smaller, isn't it? Simply, all the assets that comprise this figure have not disappeared, or have they?

Unknown said...

Rob,

Although this case is important but
it has made law enforcement agencies to focus their thoughts, energy, time etc. as if there is no other cases which are more important.

The 4 points have weakened the basis for prosecution i.e. master minding murder. How can he master mind if people who were supposed to be his accomplices denied. More over the forensic expert has said that the coroner's report was inappropriate this not valid.
Due to all that, demand for death sentence would be too heavy.

Re: the judges' decision
I think that they will be wise in doing so, like you have said.

Re: Bank Century's bail out
Whether or not the Rp 6.7 T has be lost depends on how much is the price right now. Many experts said that its overall assets are a lot much lower.

Unknown said...

this is just like a sinetron.. intriguing..i too hope justice will prevail.

Unknown said...

Umihoney,

You are right, it's like those sinetron.
Thank you for your kind sympathy.

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Unknown said...

B. Held,

It's good to have you back again, Brittany. I will visit your new blog which I am sure as interesting as your other one.

depalpiss said...

Pembahasan yang menarik maaf pak saya pakai bhs indonesia(ga apa2 kan he he). bapak pernah lihat dagelan(lawakan orang jawa) lucu terkadang juga miris!, ada dalang di balik dalang. Tapi saya tidak pesimis pak Indonesia akan lebih baik dari sebelumnya dan langkah awal dari seribu langkah sedang berlangsung di "dalam diri kita", sendiri.

Dunia hanya butuh kekurangan satu orang bodoh yaitu aku!

Dan saya harap pesan ini bisa menyebar di setip diri pribadi2.

Makasih pak sdh boleh berkomentar! slam

Unknown said...

piSS-bloGGer,

Terima kasih atas komentar anda.
Saya setuju bahwa kita tidak boleh pesimistis dan harus selalu optimis dan positif dalam menyikapi segala perkembangan bangsa dan negara kita.
Saya juga setuju bahwa kepahitan yang ada saat ini hanya langkah awal dari seribu loncatan yang akan kita jalankan kedepan.