Court orders itinerant trader be freed

JAKARTA: The North Jakarta District Court has ordered the release of itinerant trader Usep Cahyono bin Asep Saipudin on the grounds that the charges against him were flawed.

Usep was charged with possessing 3 grams of marijuana, which he insisted was planted on him by the police.

"The judges have ordered his immediate release," defense lawyer Gloria Tamba said Thursday.

Presiding judge Ahmad Sukandar said the court could not accept the indictment against Usep because he had not been allowed access to a legal counsel during his interrogation by police.

"The case against him is thus flawed," he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Usep responded to the ruling by bowing to the bench and saying he would return to his hometown of Tasikmalaya, West Java.

Usep had been arrested on Jan. 20 in Kampung Bandan, North Jakarta. - JP