Jakarta – Islam Defenders Front leaders Rizieq Shihab and Munarman claimed innocence in the attack on religious-tolerance activists in June, and asked the Central Jakarta District Court Monday to acquit them of charges of involvement in the attack.
Last week prosecutors charged Rizieq with masterminding the attack and Munarman with direct involvement, asking that they receive two-year prison sentences each.
In a three-hour statement he read in his defense, Rizieq rejected a few items put into evidence by the prosecuting team, such as video recordings of his speech and of the June attack. He claimed recordings were not recognized by Indonesia's criminal code and had been obtained without proper seizure orders from FPI's library.
He further said that, even if he were to accept the tapes, prosecutors could not prove his involvement in the attack, as he neither appeared in nor was mentioned in the recordings; prosecutors had furnished no eyewitness linking him to the attack.
"No eyewitness testified in court they had seen or knew about or heard said I was directing (my members) to do violence or anarchist action toward anyone."
FPI's paramilitary units Islam Commando Troop (KLI) and Islam Defender Troop (LPI) were allegedly involved in the attack on members of the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) who staged a rally in June for religious tolerance at National Monument.
"The charges the prosecutors came up with cannot be proven legally and convincingly, so I should be released without charges," he concluded after delivering his defense, two-thirds of which was devoted to slamming AKKBB and the banned Ahmadiyah community.
His team of lawyers, who presented their case afterward, also implied some eyewitnesses had been cooked up.
They insisted the statements KLI members made to police – later withdrew when members claimed they were made under duress – must be ignored. Instead, in accordance with the law, the defense team insisted only the adherents' court statements should be taken into account. In those statements they said to a man they had no ties with Rizieq.
KLI commander Munarman told the press, after Rizieq's hearing and before his own, that prosecutors could not prove he had hit AKKBB member Yakobus Edi Yuwono, who was assaulted from behind at the Monas incident.
"There is no witness who saw me hit him. Yakobus himself did not see who did it. He and Nasri Ahmad (another witness) also gave conflicting statements. In court, there is no room for guessing, only certainty," he said.
Rizieq and Munarman also said politics had affected their cases. (JP/mri)