[Kabar-indonesia] Papua Defendants Refuse To Enter Plea [4 articles]

[Joyo at aol.com]

4 articles:

- JP: Papua defendants refuse to enter plea

- Indonesians: Mine killings trial unfair

- Indonesian court to rule in Papua shooting case

- JP: Five named suspects in Puncak Jaya case

The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Papua defendants refuse to enter plea

Ary Hermawan , The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Seven Papuans arrested over the 2002 killings of two
Americans and their Indonesian colleague in Papua declined
to enter a plea of not guilty Tuesday, saying they were
victims of a political deal between Jakarta and Washington.

"We agree to go on with the trial as long as it is not based
on the interests of Indonesia and the U.S.," defendant Ishaq
Onawame told presiding judge Andriani Nurdin from the
visitor's seats. "We are innocent. It is the state's fault,"
he added.

Andriani said she accepted the decision made by the
defendants and announced that the verdict would be read out
on Nov. 7.

Prosecutors had earlier demanded the Central Jakarta
District Court sentence alleged ringleader Antonius Wamang
to 20 years in prison for leading an attack on a convoy
carrying PT Freeport Indonesia employees near the company's
gold mine in Timika in 2002.

Americans Ricky Lynn Spier, 44, and Edwin Leon Burgen, 71,
and Indonesian FX Bambang Riwanto died in the attack.

Prosecutors sought 15 years' jail for Agustinus Anggaibak
and Yulianus Deikme for taking part in the shooting and
eight years' jail for Ishak Onawame, Esau Onawame, Hardi
Sugumol and Yairus Kiwak for assisting Antonius Wamang with
logistics.

The seven Papuans have been boycotting the trial since they
were indicted, insisting they be tried in Papua. They came
to the courtroom but refused to be seated in defendants'
seats.

They also asked the court to send Hardi Tsugumol, who has
been ill, to Papua for traditional treatment. Hardi has
already missed several trials.

The prosecutors said they had tried to take Hardi to the
police hospital but he had refused to go.

Defense team lawyer Johnson Panjaitan said the trial was "a
disgrace" and "degraded the dignity" of the Indonesian
judiciary. He said he had not prepared any defense as he no
longer had any hope the trial would be fair.
"I know that my client will be punished," he said. "This
trial is a hoax." He said he had prepared documents to
appeal next week's verdict.

Papuan protesters attending the court erupted after judge
Andriani left the court room, yelling "the Indonesian court
is rotten" and "the law in this country is dead".

They accused the Indonesian military of being responsible
for the attack and demanded that the government stop PT
Freeport Indonesia's operations in Papua. The military have
denied any involvement in the attack.

Johnson said he believed the trial was part of the
Indonesian government's efforts to restore military
cooperation with the United States, which was damaged by the
deaths of the two American nationals.

Patsy Spier, the widow of Ricky Lynn Spier, calmly took
notes throughout the proceedings. She said she was
determined to stay in Jakarta for the length of the trial.

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Indonesians: Mine killings trial unfair

By IRWAN FIRDAUS Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, November 1, 2006 (AP) - Seven men accused of
killing two American teachers at a U.S.-owned gold mine in
Papua province refused to enter a plea Tuesday as their
trial wrapped up because they believed the proceedings were
unfair, their lawyer said.

Because no plea was entered, Judge Andriani Nurdin said she
would issue a verdict Nov. 7.

The defendants have remained silent throughout the course of
their five-month trial and regularly walked out in protest.

Prosecutors alleged the men -- all indigenous Papuans --
were members of a small rebel army fighting for a separate
state in the resource-rich province.

They are accused of shooting Rickey Lynn Spier, 44, of
Littleton, Colo., and Leon Edwin Burgon, 71, of Sun River,
Ore., in 2002 as their car headed down a road toward the
mine owned by Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc. and Gold
Mine Inc.

Johnson Panjaitan, a lawyer for the defendants, said his
clients refused to enter the plea because they had routinely
been denied access to attorneys and that the judges were
biased against them.

"They do not believe the trial was fair," Panjaitan said.

Officials at the Central Jakarta District Court were not
immediately available for comment.

The hearing in the heavily guarded court was interrupted
several times by rowdy Papuan protesters.
Prosecutors have demanded that the alleged ringleader --
Antonius Wamang -- serve 20 years in prison and that the
others serve eight to 15 years.

Wamang, who was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 2004 for
the murders, admitted to shooting at the teachers' convoy,
saying he believed it was carrying soldiers paid by the New
Orleans-based company to guard the mine, Panjaitan said.

Wamang also acknowledged being a member of the Papuan
separatist movement, which has long seen the mine as a
symbol of Jakarta-rule over the province, the lawyer said.

But the other six, accused of providing logistics for the
attack, maintain they were ordinary civilians, he said.

Some Papuan activists have alleged that the Indonesian army,
which has a history of rights abuses in the province,
ordered the 2002 attack to make sure Freeport would continue
to pay soldiers to protect the mine.

The military has denied that and the FBI, which took part in
the arrests of the seven men last year, found no evidence
backing up those suspicions.

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Indonesian court to rule in Papua shooting case

JAKARTA, October 31 (AFP) -- An Indonesian court said
Tuesday it would deliver its verdict in the case of seven
Papuans accused of involvement in the 2002 killing of two US
nationals next week.

The men stand accused of carrying out a shooting spree near
a gold and copper mine operated by US-owned Freeport McMoRan
in Papua, in which two US teachers and their Indonesian
colleague were killed.

Judge Andriani Nurdin Tuesday gave the defendants an
opportunity to make a final plea but they declined.

The men, who could face the death penalty, have been
boycotting their trial to protest it being held here rather
than in Papua. Authorities moved the venue to Jakarta citing
security reasons.

Nurdin said the verdict would be delivered next Tuesday.

Meanwhile about 50 protestors outside the court demanded
that the men, arrested in January in an operation involving
the FBI, be freed and the mine shut down.

Rebels from the Free Papua Movement (OPM) have been fighting
a sporadic and low-level guerrilla war since 1963, when
Indonesia took over the huge, mountainous and undeveloped
territory of Papua from Dutch colonisers.

Antonius Wamang, who was indicted by a US grand jury in 2004
for the shooting, is alleged to have been an OPM commander
at the time.

He has admitted firing 30 shots during the attack on the
vehicles carrying the Americans, but also implicated the
military in the incident.

Police have said the other six suspects were also members of
the movement, but their lawyers have maintained that they
were "just ordinary people".

Papua-based rights groups have alleged that the military
ordered the attack to ensure that Freeport continued making
large cash payments to it for security in and around the
mine.

The military has denied any involvement in the killings.

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The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Five named suspects in Puncak Jaya case

JAYAPURA, Papua: The Papua Police have named five people as
suspects in a civil disturbance in Mulia, the capital of
Puncak Jaya regency, on Oct. 13 that killed one man and
injured five others, an official said Tuesday.

The unrest was sparked by anger among thousands of people
who failed to get cash assistance from the government, even
though they had earlier been listed as possible recipients
of the aid.

The five suspects were identified as Eterina Telenggen,
Mondip Tabuni, Yosi Kogoya, Yondira Wanimbo and Lele
Telenggen. The last two are still on the run after they fled
from the hospital where they were being treated for injuries
they sustained during the unrest, Papua Police's crime and
detectives director Sr. Comr. Paulus Waterpauw said.

During the unrest, the angry protesters set fire to the
Puncak Jaya Legislative Assembly building and a number of
other government properties.

Waterpauw said the suspects could face five years in jail
for violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code for violent
acts carried out in groups.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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