BALI II TRIALS CONCLUDE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 011663 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS KPAO PGOV ID SUBJECT: BALI II TRIALS CONCLUDE REF: JAKARTA 08505 BALI II TRIALS PROGRESS ¶1. Summary. The District Court in Denpasar, Bali on September 14 announced the final of four convictions of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) associates for their roles in the October 1, 2005 suicide terror attacks in Bali. The Bali Court used Indonesia's 2003 Counterterrorism Law and the Criminal Code to hand down sentences for charges that varied from assembling explosives linked to the attacks, to hiding suspected mastermind Noordin Top and facilitating Top's use of the Internet to spread the group's violent ideology. The stiffest sentences were given to Mohammad Cholily (18 years) and Anif Solchanudin (15 years),in each case exceeding the prosecutor's recommendations. The court handed down sentences for Abdul Aziz and Widyarto which were two years lighter than the ten recommended by prosecutors. End Summary. ¶2. On September 14, the District Court in Denpasar, Bali, delivered the final conviction against four Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) associates arrested during the investigation into the three suicide attacks in Bali's main tourist areas on October 1, 2005. The charges against the four JI members varied from assembling explosives linked to the attacks, to hiding suspected mastermind Noordin Top and facilitating Top's use of the Internet to spread the group's violent ideology (reftel). In separate trials before three-judge panels, the Bali Court used Indonesia's 2003 Counterterrorism Law and the Criminal Code to hand down sentences of between seven and 18 years. ¶3. The first of the four verdicts was given September 5 to Abdul Aziz, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, two years less than the 10 years that prosecutors had recommended. He was convicted for assisting Top in establishing "Anshar.net," a jihadi propaganda website, and in creating the videotape of Top that included the confessions of the suicide bombers. Despite his having been a JI member since 1995, the Court said Aziz's lack of a prior record and his penitent attitude resulted in a more lenient sentence. ¶4. On September 7, Mohammad Cholily, a bombmaker trained by late JI explosives expert Azahari, received an 18-year sentence, the highest of the four and three years longer than the prosecutor's recommendation. The judges were not moved by Cholily's unsubstantiated claims that he had been tortured by police investigators into making his confessions. In delivering the sentence, the judges said that Cholily's bombmaking skills made him a "dangerous man" and that they believed Cholily had assembled as many as 21 explosive devices, some of which had been used in last year's suicide attacks. Cholily's lawyers have already filed their appeal, according to Embassy contacts close to the case. ¶5. Also on September 7, Dwi Widyarto (aka Wiwid) received an eight-year sentence for his failure to inform authorities of the plot and the location of the plot's alleged mastermind Noordin Top. Like Aziz, Wiwid assisted Top in taping the video confessions of the suicide bombers. As in the case of Aziz, the eight-year sentence was two years less than the ten recommended by prosecutors. Judges cited Widyarto's repentant attitude and his young family as the reasons for their leniency. ¶6. On September 14, Anif Solchanudin received the last of the four convictions, a 15-year sentence which exceeded the prosecutor's recommendation by five years. The court found that Anif had had direct knowledge of the October 2005 attacks, had provided logistical assistance to both Azahari and Top, and had been actively involved in recruiting new JI members, including Abdul Aziz. There also was an indication that Anif had originally been recruited as a possible suicide bomber. Comment -------------- ¶7. In the context of other CT prosecutions over the last few years, these four verdicts fall somewhere in the middle, slightly stiffer than similar cases in the Marriott bombing and slightly lower than similar cases in the Australian Embassy bombing. Generally the more experienced prosecutors have presented the stronger sentencing recommendations. Cholily conceivably could have received the death penalty for his bombmaking role. However, these four JI members largely played worker-bee roles in the October 2005 attacks, which are believed to have been masterminded by Noordin Top, who JAKARTA 00011663 002 OF 002 remains at-large, and Azahari, who was killed in a police raid last November, just over one month after the attacks. HEFFERN