Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Witnesses from the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) announced they would boycott trials on the June ambush at the National Monument (Monas) park after one of their activists was assaulted outside the courtroom Monday.
"We plan to boycott the upcoming trials because the prosecutors have failed to protect us. We feel intimidated," M. Guntur Romli, an AKKBB activist as well as a victim and witness of the June ambush, told The Jakarta Post.
He said during the trial of the Islam Troop Command leader Munarman, he had asked a police officer guarding the trial why seven of the 10 suspects in the ambush, purportedly members of the Islam Defender Front (FPI), were allowed to wander freely outside the courtroom.
"They defendants were laughing and chatting with their fellow FPI members during Munarman's trial. I don't understand why they were not in detention," Guntur said. The police officer said he did not recognize the seven, so Guntur asked another activist, Nong Darol, to check with the prosecutors.
"Nong told the police the seven people were suspects. The policeman started to scold me instead, saying 'What are you up to?' repeatedly," Guntur said.
He said the police officer's loud voice attracted the attention of many FPI members.
"They surrounded us, one of them beat Nong on her forehead and abdomen. Some plainclothes officers then took us to a witness room while others tried to hold the seven suspects who had harassed us," he said.
Guntur said the activists were also considering two other options besides a boycott: mobilizing more people to protect AKKBB witnesses during the trial or reporting the assault to the police.
"The court cannot protect us, the witnesses," he said, adding the defendants and their supporters should be strictly supervised.
A lawyer representing FPI, Achmad Michdan, said FPI members would not beat a woman. "But there was a woman attending the hearing whose comments infuriated other defendants who had just finished their hearing in a separate courtroom," he told the Post.
On June 1, AKKBB staged a peaceful rally in support of the Ahmadiyah community and to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the establishment of the Pancasila state ideology.
Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, has been dubbed heretical and therefore their activities have been restricted by the government.
Some 70 activists attending the rally were injured when allegedly attacked by FPI adherents.
Earlier in the day, the trial of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab turned ugly as the defendant's supporters began to protest against presiding judge Panusunan Harahap for failing to rule on the defendant's request his detention be suspended.
Panusunan, who had already had one FPI supporter removed from the courtroom for contempt of court, immediately adjourned the hearing.
FPI lawyer Ari Yusuf Amir said the panel of judges was biased. "If the judges show prejudice, there should be no trial at all," he said.