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n Australian teenager arrested for allegedly possessing marijuana appeared before the Denpasar District Court for the first session of his trial on Tuesday.

The closed trial took place in a separate room of the court building, instead of taking place in a courtroom. Sources stated that the room used for the boy’s trial was usually used as a meeting room for the court’s officials.

During the hearing, the 14-year-old boy, identified as LAM, was indicted with three articles of the 2009 Narcotics Law. The most serious article relates to possession and carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison.

After the prosecutors read out the indictment, the court heard testimony from two officers from the Legian customary village administration who witnessed the arrest.

The boy was arrested on Oct. 4 in Legian with 3.6 grams of marijuana in his shorts pocket.

After the session, prosecutor I Gusti Putu Gede Atmaja said the witnesses had told the court that when the police arrested the boy, they saw him take a package of drugs from his pocket and show it to the police.

“The two witnesses were patrolling around the area when the police arrested the boy, so the police asked them to witness the arrest,” he said.

The witnesses confirmed that the defendant was the individual they had seen arrested.

The first session should have presented testimony from the two police officers who had made the arrest, but the officers failed to attend. They are expected to be present at the next hearing on Friday.

 “We are holding court sessions twice a week to speed up the process, so that the boy will not become depressed. We hope all the witnesses will come on Friday,” Atmaja said, adding that a psychiatrist and officers from the National Narcotics Agency would also give their testimony.

Asked about LAM’s condition during the hearing, he said, “The boy looked fine. We have told him that we’re friendly. We wear batik shirts, not the usual outfits worn in court, so to not frighten him.”

A special curtain with a cartoon motif had also been put up to cover the courtroom from media coverage and to “make the child not feel frightened”.

The teenager, wearing a batik shirt and a balaclava to cover his face, was mobbed by the media as he was escorted into the court, flanked by six bodyguards from the lawyer’s office.

His mother accompanied the boy to the court. She was also flanked by bodyguards and escorted into the courtroom.

The boy’s lawyer, Mohammad Rifan, said he would ask the judges to sentence the defendant under article 128, which would allow the boy to be released.