Officers in Wiliardi’s testimony summoned

The judge in antigraft official Antasari Azhar’s trial has told prosecutors to present high-ranking police officers whom witness Sr. Comr. Wiliardi Wizard claims forced him to give false testimony.

“We ordered the prosecutors to present those who had been named by the witness [in the previous hearing] at the next Tuesday’s hearing,” presiding judge Herri Swantoro said Thursday before adjourning the hearing at the South Jakarta District Court.

Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Antasari is on trial for the murder of state pharmaceutical company director Nasrudin Zulkarnaen.

Antasari’s lawyers initially moved for the postponement of the officers’ testimonies, saying the court still had dozens of other witnesses to question.

Herri overruled the motion, saying he did not want to “lose any momentum” in the trial.

In Tuesday’s hearing, Wiliardi, a former South Jakarta Police chief, stunned all and sundry with his claim that he had been coerced by police investigators to fall in line with a plot to frame Antasari.

Among the officers he named were former National Police deputy chief detective Insp. Gen. Hadiatmoko and former Jakarta Police chief detective Sr. Comr. M. Iriawan.