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No more hearings should witnesses fail to show up: Ahok's lawyers
A lawyer defending Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said the governor’s legal defense team would refuse to continue the hearings in their client’s blasphemy case should prosecutors fail again to present witnesses who had filed a police report against Ahok for the alleged crime.
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Prepared -- Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama attends a hearing in his blasphemy trial at the North Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. (hukumonline.com/POOL/Resa Esnir/via JP)
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lawyer defending Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said the governor’s legal defense team would refuse to continue the hearings in its client’s blasphemy case should prosecutors fail again to present witnesses who had filed a police report against Ahok for the alleged crime.
Lawyer Fifi Lety Indra was referring to three witnesses, Muhammad Asroi Saputra, Iman Sudirman and Ibnu Baskoro, who prosecutors had failed to present in the sixth hearing at the North Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. To replace them, prosecutors proposed two other witnesses, but the lawyers refused to hear the testimonies of the two unscheduled witnesses, forcing the court’s panel of judges to adjourn the hearing.
“Those witnesses reported Ahok to the police, but they refused to show up at the hearing. They shouldn’t have done that. We don’t care how long the trial will take, but we will wait for those witnesses to show up,” Fifi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
(Read also: Ahok's lawyers point out 'trial by mob' in witness' statement)
Ahok has been reported to the police for alleged blasphemy by 14 people, eight of whom have testified against the governor in his trial.
From previous hearings, the lawyers noted some irregularities both in witnesses' statements and their backgrounds. Concerning the irregularities, the panel of judges should not consider their testimonies in its decisions, Fifi said.
Ahok’s lawyer team reported Islam Defenders Front (FPI) secretary general Novel Bamukmin, one of the witnesses presented by prosecutors, to the Jakarta Police for alleged perjury last Friday. “We will also report another witness, FPI Jakarta head Muchsin, to the police, also for alleged perjury,” Fifi said. (ebf)
