The North Sumatra High Court has again reduced the sentences of those convicted by Medan District Court for their involvement in the February 2009 rally that lead to the death of a legislative speaker, following appeals.
A high court justice acting court spokesman, Jatinar Nababan, said the decision to reduce the sentences was made on the grounds that they did not find evidence proving they were directly involved in the violence.
Jatinar said the convicts, who generally came from Tapanuli, had only joined the rally to strengthen their demands for an autonomous Tapanuli province.
Jatinar said most of the convicts who appealed to the high court had received lighter sentences from those handed down by the Medan District Court.
He added that so far the high court had yet to rule on the sentences of 12 others who were convicted, eight of whom were allegedly the masterminds and instigators of the rally.
"We will completely rule on them by the middle of March this year at the latest, including the appeals submitted by the rally organizers," Jatinar told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
In January this year, the high court reduced the sentences of 32 people who were involved in the bloody rally that killed North Sumatra legislative speaker Abdul Aziz Angkat in February last year.
The high court reduced the prison term of a North Sumatra le-gislative council member from the Democrat faction Tahan Manahan Panggabean from a year to eight-and-a-half months.
Sisingamangaraja University assistant rector Rudolf Marpaung, who was previously sentenced to one-and-a-half years by the Medan District Court, at the appeal level received a lighter sentence of a year.
The high court reduced the two-year sentence handed down to a lecturer at the Agricultural School of the North Sumatra University Hasudungan Butar-Butar to a year.
In response to the North Sumatra High Court's decision, North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office spokesman Edi Irsan said Friday they had yet to receive information on the sentence reductions for those convicted in the rally.
Asked on the possibility prosecutors would appeal over the sentence cut, Edi said there were guidelines and criteria in deciding whether or not to appeal.
Wife of deceased legislative speaker Abdul Aziz Angkat, Tiur Siregar, expressed disappointment over the reduced sentences.
Tiur said the cut sentences did not reflect the severity of the actions that had led to the death of her husband.
