P

rosecutors indicted infamous Jakarta gangland leader John Kei on Tuesday for the premeditated murder of businessman Tan Harry Tantono. The offense carries a penalty of execution by firing squad.

At a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court, John was also indicted for murder without premeditation, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, for suggesting or assisting his henchmen in the murder of Tan, also known as Ayung, in a hotel in Central Jakarta on Jan. 26.

“We have secured enough evidence to make the case,” prosecutor Herli Siregar told the three-judge panel overseeing John’s trial.

John, the leader of Southeast Maluku “youth organizations” in Jakarta, strutted into the courtroom, appeared in court wearing a white striped shirt, sunglasses and a green beret sporting five gold stars and emblazoned with the letters “JK”.

“John Kei” is a nickname. His true name is John Refra. He takes his nickname from the Kei Islands in Maluku.

He smiled to reporters and his supporters in the courtroom, giving an impression of confidence that belied the last several months that he has spent in custody.

John said he was not guilty. “I am innocent! I must be freed, period!” John shouted to spectators in the courtroom after the hearing.

He voiced a similar sentiment when reporters questioned as police officers escorted him from the courtroom. “I will get my freedom!”

A member of John’s legal team, Taufik Chandra, said that the prosecutors’ allegations were groundless as John was not at the scene of the crime when Ayung was murdered.

“The murder occurred after [John] had already left the hotel room, so he couldn’t have done it. The ones who did it have been named suspects. It was Candra and his friends,” Taufik told reporters as quoted by kompas.com.

Taufik was referring to the other suspects in the case: Joseph Hungan, and Mukhlis, who are being tried with John; and Candra Kei, Ancola Kei, Tuce Kei, Dani Res, Kupra, who are being tried separately.

“John had nothing to do with it. If the murder took place after he left the room, what is his crime?” Taufik said.

John is scheduled to read his defense statement on Tuesday.

The police arrested the gang leader at a hotel in East Jakarta on Feb. 17, when John was shot in the leg when fleeing from officers.

The police said that CCTV footage from the hotel where Ayung was murdered showed that John had been at the crime scene around the time of the murder.

The road to John’s first trial has been long and winding. His arrest was followed by protests in several parts of the city that were led by both his supporters and opponents.

Earlier this month, a member of another gang from the Kei Islands in Maluku, Ladau Telagani, also known as Daud Kei, was shot by assailants on motorbikes while on the way to the South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office to demand a heavy sentence for John.

In a lawsuit that was denied by the South Jakarta District Court in April, John said that the police violated standard operating procedures during his arrest, claiming that he was shot after he surrendered.

Over the next four months, John’s case dossier bounced back-and-forth between the police and prosecutors as they tried to build the case against the gang leader. Several theories behind Tan murder have circulated, including a claim that John might have had ambitions to take control of part of Ayung’s steel business.