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rosecutors at the West Jakarta District Court demanded that the court sentence Abu Tholut, a member of the Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) jihadist movement, to 12 years’ imprisonment on charges of involvement in a terror camp in Aceh, North Sumatra.

Prosecutors found Tholut guilty of violating the 2003 antiterrorism law during the trial, which was presided over by Judge Musa Arif on Thursday. Tholut was arrested by the National Police’s Detachment 88 counterterrorism unit in Kudus, Central Java, in December 2010. The police confiscated a pistol and bullets from him during the arrest.

Prosecutor Bambang Suharyadi said that Abu Tholut was guilty of conspiring in the setting up of a military-like training camp in the Jalin Jantho mountainous region of Aceh.

Tholut allegedly received funds for establishing the terror camp in Aceh from Lutfi Haedaroh, alias Ubaid, and Muzaiyin, two students of convicted terror mastermind Abu Bakar Ba’asyir.

Ba’asyir was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in June by judges at the South Jakarta District Court for inciting terrorism and funding the paramilitary camp.

During the meeting in Ngruki, Ubaid and Muzaiyin reportedly offered Tholut the position as “war commander” in Jalin Jantho, which Tholut accepted. Ubaid then gave Tholut Rp 40 million (US$4,560) to conduct a survey for setting up a military training camp in Aceh.

Ubaid, who had served a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for hiding sought-after terrorist Noordin M. Top, was known as a JAT treasurer and courier between Ba’asyir and the Aceh field operatives.

The idea for the training camp reportedly came from Dulmatin, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing who police shot dead in 2010. Besides the Rp 40 million, Tholut was also accused of transferring Rp 100 million from the JAT Jakarta chapter leader Abdul Haris to Ubaid for the Aceh camp.

Besides the Aceh training camp, prosecutors also found Tholut guilty of aiding preparations for the training of armed groups in Poso, Central Sulawesi, for jihadist purposes.

Prosecutors also found Tholut guilty of repeatedly conspiring with Ba’asyir, Ubaid and Dulmatin on various other occasions, including the procurement of 24 weapons worth Rp 325 million, which were used in training at Jalin Jantho.

Tholut was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2004 for his role in a bomb attack in Jakarta, but was released in 2007 on good behavior. He is also allegedly involved in other terror crimes, most notably the armed robbery of a bank in Medan, North Sumatra.

Separately, Tholut’s attorney, Nurlan, said that the 12-year sentence demand was too high because Dulmatin had been the person in charge of the training camp in Aceh.

Tholut refused to comment on the court proceedings, saying only that he would read out his defense statement when the trial recommenced a week later.