[Kabar-indonesia] Trial over Indonesian beheadings to start next week

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: Three charged in Indonesia over girls' beheadings

Trial over Indonesian beheadings to start next week

By Achmad Sukarsono

JAKARTA, November 3 (Reuters) - Three Indonesian men will go
on trial next week over the beheading of three teenage
Christian girls in Central Sulawesi province last year, with
the case moved to the capital amid security concerns,
officials said on Friday.

The attack took place in Central Sulawesi's Poso region, an
area where deadly Muslim-Christian clashes broke out from
1998 to 2001, and where simmering violence continues.

"The trial next week is over last year's beheadings. We
could not hold it in Poso because the condition there is
unsuitable due to security reasons," said Wayan Pasek
Suartha, spokesman of the country's attorney-general's
office.

The trial will take place at the Central Jakarta court.

A prosecutor involved in the case said the main defendant,
Hasanuddin, would be indicted on Wednesday under Indonesia's
anti-terrorism laws.

The two other defendants face charges of helping Hasanuddin.

The use of anti-terrorism laws means all three defendants
could receive the death penalty if found guilty.

It was unclear how the defendants would plead.

Police said after the attack that up to six people dressed
in black outfits and masks killed the teenage schoolgirls
with machetes near the centre of the town of Poso.

The beheadings triggered an outcry across Indonesia, the
world's most populous Muslim nation, and beyond. The Vatican
described the attack as "barbaric".

The situation in Central Sulawesi has become more tense
since the executions of three Christian militants last
September over the slaying of Muslims in a boarding school
in 2000.

There have been sporadic bombings in recent weeks, as well
as the assassination of a pastor, a church torching, attacks
against police and a mob killing of two Muslims.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government has come
under fire for failing to quell the violence. Officials say
the the situation has been inflamed by tiny groups from both
religions bent on spreading terror in the region.

Fifteen people have been arrested over a series of attacks
since 2001 mainly targeting Christians in Central Sulawesi
province, police said this week.
Three years of sectarian clashes in Central Sulawesi killed
more than 2,000 people before a peace accord took effect in
late 2001. There has been sporadic violence ever since.

Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow
Islam, but some areas in eastern Indonesia have roughly
equal numbers of Muslim and Christians.

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Three charged in Indonesia over girls' beheadings

JAKARTA, Nov 3, 2006 (AFP) -

Three men have been charged under Indonesia's terrorism laws
for involvement in the gruesome beheadings of three young
Christian girls in the religiously-divided district of Poso,
prosecutors said Friday.

The three were this week charged with involvement in "an act
of terrorism by using force that caused the loss of lives"
in the October 2005 killings, Heri, an official with the
attorney general's office, told AFP.

The girls were walking home when they were beheaded by
machete in Poso's Gebang Rejo area on October 29 2005. Two
of their heads were found near a police post and the third
was discovered outside a Christian church.

The incident sparked public indignation in Indonesia and
overseas. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the
killings and Pope Benedict XVI deplored what he described as
"barbaric murder."

Dossiers on the three men, Hasanuddin, also called Hasan,
Lilik Purnomo also called Haris, and Irwanto Irano, were
submitted to the central Jakarta district court on Monday in
preparation for a trial and the defendants were then
charged, Heri said.

Achmad Michdan, a lawyer for the three men, confirmed that
his clients would soon be brought to trial. The court will
have to form a panel of judges before issuing a date for the
trial.

Poso and its surrounding district has been the scene of
sporadic unrest since violence between Muslims and
Christians claimed about 1,000 lives in 2000-2001.

Muslims and Christians live in roughly equal number sin
Poso. But Muslims have accused the police, especially its
paramilitary unit Brimob, of favouring Christians.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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