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Ahok to testify in court next week
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Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama consults his lawyer during his blasphemy hearing at the North Jakarta District Court. (Media Indonesia/POOL/Ramdani/ via JP)
J
akarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is set to defend himself in a hearing on April 4 after witnesses and experts were presented in past hearings.
"Today's hearing is adjourned until Tuesday, when the court will examine the evidence and hear the defendant's testimony," presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto said on Wednesday evening.
Ahok's lawyers have presented various witnesses during the trial, including Bambang Waluyo Djojohadikoesoemo, a Golkar Party member who was present when Ahok made a speech mentioning the Al Maidah 51 Quranic verse in Thousand Islands on Sept. 27, and Eko Cahyono, Ahok's running mate in the 2007 Bangka Belitung gubernatorial election.
Other witnesses included Juhri, the former head of the Belitung Elections Supervisory Agency in 2007; Suyanto, Ahok's driver in Belitung; and Fajrun, one of Ahok's friends in East Belitung.
Criminal law experts Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej from Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, C Djisman Samosir from Parahyangan University in Bandung and I Gusti Ketut Ariawan from Udayana University in Bali were also presented as witnesses for the defense.
Four Muslim clerics, Ahmad Ishomuddin from Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU), Masdar Farid Mas'udi of the PBNU, Hamka Haq from the Tarbiyah Islamiyah Association (Perti) and Sahiron Syamsuddin from the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN) Yogyakarta also testified for the defense.
Language experts Rahayu Surtiati from the University of Indonesia and Bambang Kaswanti Purwo from Atma Jaya University, Jakarta, and social psychology expert Risa Permana Deli also testified.
