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Court denies Jessica's pretrial motion
The Central Jakarta District Court has denied a pretrial motion filed by murder suspect Jessica Kumala Wongso on Tuesday, saying that police officers had so far acted in accordance with the law.
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Central Jakarta District Court judge I Wayan Merta (right), reads out the verdict of the pretrial motion filed by murder suspect Jessica Kumala Wongso on Tuesday. Judge Wayan denied Jessica's pretrial motion and declared that police officers had acted in accordance with the law. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf) (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
T
he Central Jakarta District Court has denied a pretrial motion filed by murder suspect Jessica Kumala Wongso on Tuesday, saying that police officers had so far acted in accordance with the law.
The court, lead by sole judge I Wayan Merta, said that police officers had carried out the proper legal process before naming Jessica as a suspect in the murder case of Wayan Mirna Salihin, who dies after drinking cyanide-tainted coffee.
The process included investigation, arrest and the imposition of overseas travel restrictions before Jessica was named a suspect.
"All police conduct has been in accordance with the Criminal Code [KUHAP] procedures, [therefore] we deny the request made by the plaintiff," Wayan told the court as reported by newsportal kompas.com.
Judge Wayan only considered the testimony of one of the three witnesses presented by Jessica's legal team to be relevant, namely legal expert Arbijoto. The legal scholar testified that police had the right to arrest anyone suspected of committing a crime if they had sufficient evidence.
After declaring someone a suspect, the next step was to arrest and impose travel bans on the suspect so they did not run away or destroy evidence, he said.
"The pretrial judge does not agree with the plaintiff who says that there is no sufficient evidence to support the naming [of the plaintiff] as a suspect," he said.
The judge did not take the evidence for naming Jessica a suspect into account as Jessica filed the pretrial motion to contest her long questioning, travel ban and arrest by the police.
"There is no reason to approve the plaintiff's request to be released from the Jakarta Police's detention center and lift the travel ban on her," Wayan said.
With the rejection of the pretrial motion, Jessica will remain a suspect and continue to be detained at the Jakarta Police's detention facility.
Jessica is the sole suspect in the murder case of her friend Mirna, who died after drinking cyanide-tainted ice coffee at Olivier Cafe in the upscale Grand Indonesia mall, Central Jakarta, in early January. (rin)
