Bagus BT Saragih and Dina Indrasafitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 02/18/2011 11:27 AM
Former chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duaji — who blew the whistle on extensive corrupt practices in the police force and was himself later charged with corruption — was scheduled to be released from his cell on Thursday night.
Attorney General’s Office (AGO) spokesman Noor Rachmad said the police general’s detention period would end Friday. “He will be released although his trial is not over yet,” he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Susno was detained in the police detention center in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java, for 60 days. The Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) state that a detention period of a defendant held on charges involving imprisonment of nine years or more can be extended for another 60 days at a judge’s discretion.
The South Jakarta District Court judges trying the case of Susno, who has been charged under the 2001 Anti-Corruption Law, which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years’ imprisonment, did not order the extension of Susno’s detention, Noor Rachmad said.
Court spokesman Ida Bagus said that Susno’s trial had been prolonged due to the large number of witnesses, amounting to 111. “In addition, the prosecutors have also repeatedly failed to present several witnesses, while Susno himself has frequently failed to attend hearings due to poor health,” he said.
“We hope that [Susno] can attend hearings once he is out of detention,” he added.
One of Susno’s lawyers, Henry Yosodiningrat, said he would pick up Susno from Kelapa Dua at midnight. “It’s too bad for the prosecutors. They have been very slow in summoning witnesses. Now our client is to have freedom and nobody can derail it,” he said.
The head of South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office, M. Yusuf, said his office had requested that the Law and Human Rights Ministry ban Susno from traveling overseas.
Susno’s trial started in late September last year.
Prosecutors have demanded the judges sentence Susno to seven years in prison and fine him Rp 500 million (US$56,500) for receiving Rp 500 million in bribes and embezzling Rp 8.5 billion in state funds earmarked for the 2008 regional election in West Java.
Susno has accused the police of fabricating charges against him due to his whistle-blowing. It was
Gayus H. Tambunan who disclosed the judicial mafia case centering on former taxman Gayus, which has implicated a number of high-ranking police officers.
Susno was arrested by a number of police officers with lower ranks than his at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport before he could depart for Singapore in April last year. His lawyers have attempted to release Susno from detention on two occasions through the filing of pre-trial motions but neither was approved by the judges.
Many consider Susno a whistle-blower because of his revelation of a major case brokerage ring operating at the National Police. Anti-graft activists have suggested that Susno should therefore receive leniency in his graft trial.
