Former member of Parliament, Sri-Bintang Pamungkas, now chairperson of PUDI, the Indonesian Democratic Unity Party, walked out of the third hearing of his trial in Jakarta on Monday after the judge rejected his petition to have the prosecutor declared unsuitable to take part in the trial proceedings.

At the commencement of the hearing, the defendant protested against Prosecutor Silangit continuing to appear at the hearings. He argued that the prosecutor used physical violence against him during pre-trial interrogations. His defence lawyer, R.O. Tambunan also argued in court that it was not acceptable for prosecutor Silangit to take part in the proceedings because of a conflict of interest, considering his role during the questioning of the defendant.

The judge ruled that the prosecutor should continue to handle the case, a ruling that caused the defendant to walk out. 'I cannot remain in the same room as Mr Silangit so I will save you the trouble of ordering me to leave the courtroom by walking out. I hereby state that I shall appear in court each time I am summoned to do so but as soon as I see Mr Silangit, I will walk out,' Sri-Bintang told the court.

His lawyers announced that since their role was to assist the defendant, there was no point their remaining in court in his absence and they too left.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Prosecutor Silangit said there was nothing in law preventing an interrogator from acting as the prosecutor of the accused. 'This is a special case, a subversion case, and so the interrogator is allowed to be the prosecutor.'

In the absence of the defendant and his lawyers, the prosecutor read out the indictment which charges Sri-Bintang with subversion for setting up PUDI with the aim of undermining and deviating from Pancasila, the state ideology.