Three witnesses fail to turn up in Ahok’s trial
JAKARTA: Lawyers of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama refused to continue the sixth hearing of Ahok’s blasphemy trial due to prosecutors’ failure to present witnesses who had been scheduled earlier.
During the hearing yesterdays, the prosecutors instead proposed to present two eyewitnesses – Yulihardy and Nurkholis Majid – from Thousand Islands regency who were not scheduled earlier.
Thousand Islands was where Ahok delivered a speech on Sept 27 last year, that was later deemed blasphemous by parties outside the regency.
The lawyers disapproved of the prosecutors’ proposal.
“The prosecutors hadn’t communicated to us about those two witnesses.
“We wanted to focus on examining witnesses who had denounced (Ahok) first.
“Previously, we found some irregularities from the witnesses (who testified earlier),” Ahok’s lawyer told the judges.
Previously, the prosecutors informed the lawyers that they would summon six witnesses, namely secretary of the Bogor Islam Forum H. Willyudin Abdul Rasyid, Bogor police officers Brig Agung Hermawan and First Brig Ahmad Hamdani, Muhammad Asroi Saputra, Iman Sudirman and Ibnu Baskoro.
However, the prosecutors said the last three names could not attend the hearing.
Prosecutor Ali Mukartono argued that based on the Criminal Law Procedure, the prosecutors were not required to relay information about the summoned witnesses to the lawyers.
He added that the prosecutors had told the lawyers about their plan to hear testimonies from Yulihardy and Nurkholis on Tuesday morning. Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto decided to grant the lawyer’s objection.
Dwiarso adjourned the hearing until Jan. 24.
The blasphemy trial will continue a day later to hear the testimonies of the three prosecution witnesses who failed to attend the hearing yesterday.
Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent, was declared a blasphemy suspect in mid-November last year amid mounting pressure from hardliner groups who staged a series of mass demonstrations demanding his arrest.