Nasruddin's 2 wives set to testify in court hearing

Tangerang District Court motioned to proceed with the trials of alleged perpetrators of Nasruddin's murder, and turned down all objections to prosecutors' charges the suspects' lawyers had delivered in previous sessions.

"We regard the charges as clear and valid. The district court has the authority to hear the cases because the murder was committed in Tangerang," court chief Asnun, who presided over the hearing of defendant Daniel Daen, an alleged executor in the murder, said in a pretrial hearing on Wednesday.

The panel of judges then asked the team of prosecutors led by Rahmat Haryanto to present Nasruddin's family members to testify in the next hearing.

The witnesses are Nasruddin's first wife Sri Martuti, Nasruddin's second wife Irawati Arinda, Nasruddin's driver Suparmin and Sarwin, an eyewitness at the crime scene before the murder occurred.

Separately, two other panels of judges presiding over the hearings of four other defendants in the same murder also decided to proceed with the trials for similar reasons.

Ismail presided over a panel that heard defendants Henrikus Kia Walen and Heri Santosa, while another panel, presided over by Arthur Hangewa, heard defendants Fransiskus Tadin Keran and Eduardus Ndopo Mbete in separate hearings.

"We have no choice but to follow the hearings until the case material is heard," Juan Felix told The Jakarta Post after the hearing.

Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, the former director of state-owned pharmaceutical company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran, was killed on March 14 in a drive-by shooting at a golf course in Tangerang.

The murder led to the arrest of then chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Antasari Azhar, as well as media businessman Sigid Haryo Wibisono and former Tangerang and South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Wiliardi Wizar. Antasari, Wiliardi and Sigid are set to be tried at the South Jakarta District Court.