John Kei returned to hospital

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Reputed gang leader and murder suspect John Kei was immediately rushed to the National Police’s Dr. Sukanto Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, on Friday evening, just 24 hours before the end of his 120-day detention period, which was due to expire at midnight on Saturday.

The city police said that the transfer to hospital was due to the further treatment Kei’s gunshot wound to the chest, which he suffered during his arrest at a hotel in Pulomas, East Jakarta, last February.

“Kei was transferred to the hospital because his blood pressure was rising and there was swelling on his gunshot wound,” police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said.

“We are also temporarily suspending his detention because, according to the law, he has to be healthy when we hand him over to the city’s prosecutors’ office, once the office has declared the case P-21 [complete],” he explained.

A 2009 National Police Chief Regulation stipulates that the detention period of a suspect can be temporarily suspended if he or she falls ill and requires immediate hospital treatment.

However, Kei’s lawyer Taufik Chandra insisted that Kei was perfectly fine and that the temporary detention suspension was a ploy to refuse Kei his freedom. Since March 9, John has been detained at the city police headquarters after he was charged with premeditated murder in the case of businessman Tan Harry Tantono in late January.

According to the Civil Code, the police must allow a suspect to go free if his or her case is not declared complete within 120 days.