AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Monday February 3, 2003
Indonesian priest could face death sentence for weapons
possession
JAKARTA - A Christian priest went on trial Monday for possessing weapons and
ammunition in Indonesia's restive district of Poso and could face the death sentence if
convicted, a judge said.
Reverend Rinaldi Damanik "is accused of illegal possession of weapons and
ammunition under the 1951 emergency laws, charges that carry up to the death
sentence," said Judge I Nyoman Somanada of the district court in Palu, the capital of
Central Sulawesi province.
Between 500 and 1,000 people were killed in more than two years of Muslim-Christian
clashes in the Poso district of Central Sulawesi until a government-brokered peace
deal was reached in December 2001.
Damanik is a vocal leader of the Christian community in Poso.
Judge Somanada told AFP by phone that Monday's hearing, which was tightly
guarded by police, lasted only 30 minutes as the prosecutor read out the charges.
Damanik said he understood the charges but was innocent, Somanada said.
The trial will resume on February 10.
Damanik is accused of possessing 14 home-made firearms and 144 rounds of
ammunition which were allegedly found in his car by soldiers and police who halted a
convoy of cars in Poso in August last year.
Damanik has said he knows nothing about the weapons and there were no witnesses
to the alleged weapons discovery.
Sporadic violence has continued since the peace deal. bs/sm/nj
Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved.
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