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Prosecution witnesses' testimonies unreliable: Ahok's lawyers
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Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama attends a hearing of blasphemy trial held at the Agriculture Ministry's auditorium in South Jakarta on Jan. 10. (Kumparan/ POOL/Aditia Noviansyah/ via JP)
T
he defense team of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama have criticized the credibility of eight witnesses presented by prosecutors on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10, saying that none of them witnessed Ahok's alleged blasphemous comment firsthand during a work visit to Thousand Islands regency on Sept. 27, 2016.
Ahok's lawyer Edi Danggur said, according to the law, a qualified witness was someone who directly saw, experienced and heard the incident.
"All witnesses presented on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10 didn’t meet that qualification," Edi said in a press conference at Ahok's campaign headquarters on Thursday.
He went on to say that all the witnesses that testified had been made aware of Ahok's alleged blasphemous comment from other people through SMS text messages or Whatsapp conversations.
Therefore, they should be deemed as "testimonium de auditu" (a witness who hears a testimony from others) and there testimonies should be set aside because they were not credible, Edi said.
(Read also: Ahok's lawyers criticize witness' background, noting him as Agus supporter)
Edi added that his team also doubted the witnesses' backgrounds. Based on their research, the lawyers found that the witness Irena Handono, a former Catholic-nun-turned-Muslim-preacher, had lied about her educational background, Edi said.
Previously, it was revealed in court that another witness named Gus Joy had pretended to be a lawyer.
"In accordance with Article 185(6) of the Criminal Law Procedures Code, judges cannot take into account testimonies from unreliable witnesses," Edi explained. (jun)
