The Jakarta Post, 8/29/2002 4:04:29 PM
Prosecutor says Ja'far Umar Thalib's trial is legal
JAKARTA (JP): State prosecutors at the East Jakarta District Court on Thursday
rejected defense arguments that the trial of Ja'far Umar Thalib, the leader of the
Laskar Jihad Islamic militia group, was illegal.
Lawyers for Ja'far Umar Thalib said the authorities had no right to put him on trial in
Jakarta when the charges originated in the eastern Maluku islands -- the scene of
bloody sectarian conflict in recent years.
But chief prosecutor Slamet Riyanto, as quoted by AFP, said the East Jakarta
District Court had the right to try Thalib for inciting hatred and violence and defaming
the President and Vice President based on a June 2002 decree from the minister of
justice ordering that the trial be moved to Jakarta for security reasons.
"Witnesses for this trial reside in Jakarta or within the court's legal jurisdiction,"
Riyanto added. Judges will rule on the case next Thursday.
Thalib was arrested on May 4 and was accused of inciting violence in a sermon he
gave in the Malukus. Two days after he spoke, unidentified attackers raided the
Christian village of Soya and massacred 13 people. If convicted, Thalib could be
sentenced to between six and seven years in prison.
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