Three Cirebon bomber accomplices convicted

Three defendants associated with Muhammad Syarief, the suicide bomber who attacked a mosque at a police compound in Cirebon on April 15, 2011, were sentenced to jail terms of nine and seven years by the Tangerang District Court on Wednesday.

Three separate panels of judges, presided over by Syamsul Bahri, Tamrin Tarigan and Pudji Tri Rahadi, handed down a nine-year prison term to Achmad Basuki, alias Uki, and seven-year jail terms to Arief Budiman and Mardiansyah, alias Ferdi.

The verdicts should have been read on Feb. 1 but were postponed after Basuki filed an objection with the panel of judges, saying that his motorcycle, seized as evidence by Insp. Suroto, a member of the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit, was not mentioned in his dossier and had not been returned to him.

The punishment was lower than prosecutors’ had demanded. Prosecutors R. Eddiyana, Rini Hartatie and Mambang S had asked the court to sentence each of the defendants to 10 years in prison.

According to the judges, the defendants had committed an extraordinary crime that killed and injured many people so that there was no reason to grant leniency.

“The only mitigating factors in reducing the sentences are that the defendants regret their deeds and they have never been in prison before,” Syamsul said.

In response to the court’s verdicts, both prosecutors and the defendants said they would think about whether or not to appeal.

Previously, on Feb. 1, the court sentenced to up to eight years in jail ten other defendants implicated in the Cirebon bombing.

Dzulkifli and Musola Saifullah were sentenced to eight-year prison terms for supplying bomb-making materials. Arifin Nur, Echo Ibrahim and Ishak Adrian received seven-and-a-half-year jail terms, Edi Jablay and Ari Budi Santoso each got seven years’ jail, while Jakim and Andri Siswanto were sentenced to five years in prison, respectively.

Most of the defendants were arrested following a raid at Sukoharjo, Central Java, which involved a gun battle between the terrorist group and the police, a month after the Cirebon suicide-bombing incident.

As a result of the shooting, two alleged terrorists, Hendro Yunianto and Sigit Qurdowi, who were also allegedly involved in the church and Kliwon market bombings in Surakarta, Central Java, died of gunshot wounds.

Police confiscated a laptop containing several video clips showing recruits engaged in terrorist-training activities. One of the recruits in the video was Syarief, the Cirebon suicide bomber.

The bombing of the Adz-Dzikra Mosque inside the Cirebon Police compound was carried out while the congregation was performing Friday prayers.

The bomber died in the attack and dozens of police officers, who made up the majority of the congregation, suffered shrapnel injuries, including then Cirebon Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Herukoco who was standi