TRIAL OF TIMIKA SUSPECTS TO BEGIN JULY 4

UNCLAS JAKARTA 008117 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FBI PLS PASS CTD/GAO - UC MONTOOTH STATE FOR EAP/MTS AND DS/DSS, DS/IP/EAP, DS/EAP/ITA, AND CA/OCS/ACS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC CASC KJUS PHUM ID SUBJECT: TRIAL OF TIMIKA SUSPECTS TO BEGIN JULY 4 REF: JAKARTA 7909 (PROSECUTION DOSSIERS COMPLETED) ¶1. (SBU) Legatt, poloff, and conoff met June 28 with Abdul Hakim Ritonga, Acting Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes, who advised us that the trial of Anthonious Wamang and his co-conspirators would begin on July 4 in Central Jakarta District Court. Wamang faces charges including premeditated murder in connection with the August 31, 2002 murders of two U.S. citizens and one Indonesian near Timika, Papua. The Jakarta Central Court has named Ms. Andriani Nurdin as chief judge in the case. Other members of the 3-5 judge panel have yet to be designated. The initial session will be devoted to identifying the defendants. The cases would then be adjourned to another day. The following session would be for the reading of the charges, which can take several hours. The defendant will be given a chance to answer the charges before the prosecution calls witnesses, according to Ritonga. Normally the defense reply is reserved for a separate session. It will likely be a matter of weeks before the testimony of U.S. witnesses is required, and Ritonga said that we would be given adequate advance notice to make arrangements. We stressed that we require two weeks as a minimum. Participation by U.S. witnesses will not be required for several weeks. ¶2. (SBU) As discussed reftel, the case will be handled in two concurrently-held trials, although the same panel of judges and team of prosecutors serve in both cases. Wamang is faced with charges including premeditated murder; his six co-conspirators will be tried separately on lesser charges. Ms. Anita Asterida will coordinate the prosecution of Wamang, while Fernando Siagian will lead the prosecution of the co-conspirators. ¶3. (SBU) Ritonga said that it is customary for trial sessions to be held once a week, usually on Tuesday. It is still undecided whether the court will hear two sessions on trial days - one for each set of defendants - or try the two groups on different days of the week. Ritonga reaffirmed that the prosecution and the judge will work to make any special arrangements to accommodate U.S. victim and expert witnesses, such as hold sessions more frequently than once a week during the time they will be providing testimony. SILVER