| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
Ahok's lawyers refuse to continue hearing due to unscheduled witnesses
Jakarta Post - January 17, 2017
During the hearing, the prosecutors instead proposed to present two eyewitnesses – Yulihardy and Nurkholis Majid – from Thousand Islands regency who were not scheduled earlier. Thousand Islands was where Ahok delivered a speech on Sept. 27, 2016 that was later deemed blasphemous by parties outside the regency.
The lawyers disapproved of the prosecutors' proposal. "The prosecutors hadn't communicated to us about those two witnesses. We wanted to focus on examining witnesses who had denounced [Ahok] first. Previously, we found some irregularities from the witnesses [who testified earlier]," Ahok's lawyer told the judges.
Previously, the prosecutors informed the lawyers that they would summon six witnesses, namely secretary of the Bogor Islam Forum H. Willyudin Abdul Rasyid, Bogor police officers Brig. Agung Hermawan and First Brig. Ahmad Hamdani, Muhammad Asroi Saputra, Iman Sudirman and Ibnu Baskoro. However, the prosecutors said the last three names could not attend the hearing.
Prosecutor Ali Mukartono argued that based on the Criminal Law Procedure, the prosecutors were not required to relay information about the summoned witnesses to the lawyers. He added that the prosecutors had told the lawyers about their plan to hear testimonies from Yulihardy and Nurkholis on Tuesday morning.
Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto decided to grant the lawyer's objection. Dwiarso adjourned the hearing until Jan. 24.
See also:
 |