Thirty-five more suspects involved a February riot that resulted in the death of Abdul Azis Angkat, the North Sumatran legislative council speaker, will stand trial next week.

The 35 additional suspects will raise the number of defendants on trial for the case at the Medan District Court to 61.

"If the plan goes ahead, these 35 defendants will go on trial next Tuesday," Court spokesman Laurensius Sibarani told The Jakarta Post in Medan on Tuesday.

"The trial will be conducted in stages, not simultaneously, due to limited courtrooms," he said after presiding over the trial of Pustaha Nurdin Manurung, a defendant who is also the treasurer of a committee that advocates the creation of a Tapanuli province in Sumatra.

Meanwhile, the case files of eight other suspects, accused of masterminding the Feb. 3, 2009 violent protest to support the creation of a Tapanuli province, were not yet completed by prosecutors.

Local senior prosecutor Windu Swondy said his office is preparing indictments against the eight main suspects and would soon submit their case files to court.

The eight suspects include three former councilors, Chandra Panggabean, Burhanuddin Radjagukguk and Datumira Simanjuntak who is also a priest.

Local authorities are also hunting down Chandra's father G.M. Panggabean, the owner of Sinar Indonesia Baru an Indonesian daily newspaper, as another suspect in the case. He is allegedly hiding in Singapore.

During the trial of Pustaha on Tuesday, the panel of judges ruled the court session would continue Thursday to hear from more witnesses.

Pustaha denied testimonies by several witnesses presented by prosecutors who claimed he was involved in the riot.

In a separate trial Tuesday, another defendant, Supri Handi Hutapea, denied similar charges of his involvement in the riot.

Windu further said that all suspects, currently on trial for allegedly starting the riot demanding the establishment of a Tapanuli province, were charged with various offenses including provocation, destruction, violence and the disbanding a council meeting.

The prosecutor said he was confident the charges against the suspects would be proven in court.

Two witnesses, Abdul Muluk Siregar and Elmadon Ketaren, told the same court earlier this month that the riot was premeditated and had been detected by intelligence agents two days earlier.

They said they had been informed of the planned unrest and had notified the chief councilor, Abdul Azis Angkat.

Azis died of a heart attack hours after he was set upon by the mob who were protesting the council's decision to postpone a plenary meeting to discuss the partition of Tapanuli from North Sumatra to become a new province.

Abdul Muluk, a close friend of Azis and Elmadon, said he had received the same information about the plan to incite violence during the demonstration from another intelligence agent.

He said he then immediately called Azis and asked him not to attend the plenary meeting.

Muluk said Azis did not respond positively to his call. Muluk, who was present when the riot occurred said Azis had phoned the North Sumatra to ask him for advice.

Popular

Retail sales, consumer confidence ease as Idul Fitri boost dissipates

Number of forcibly displaced people dips to 118 million: UN

Hundreds of kitchens halt services due to 'pause' in free meals funds