Banda Aceh – A leading supporter of independence for Aceh walked out of his trial Wednesday when it refused to call Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid or his representative as a witness.

Muhammad Nazar, chairman of the Information Centre for a Referendum in Aceh (SIRA), walked out of the Banda Aceh district court in protest with his defence lawyers.

"The accusation against me ... is that I insulted the government, in this case the government of President Wahid, therefore it is important for a witness from the government's side to come and say in what way I have insulted them," Nazar said. "I reject all testimonies in this court today, until the witness [Wahid] is made to appear in court," he told the court.

The Aceh activist, who faces seven years imprisonment if convicted, is accused of having "publicly expressed emnity, hatred or insults towards the government of Indonesia."

The judges went ahead and heard the testimony of three witnesses without the defendant present, as well as the written testimony of two other witnesses.

"The court process is politically engineered by the neo- colonialist government of the Republic of Indonesia to curb the civilian movement in Aceh," Nazar told AFP after the court adjourned until March 20. "The verdict is already there and this trial is just a comedy. But whatever the verdict, I am prepared to accept it," Nazar said.

State prosecutor Suheri told the opening session of the trial that Nazar had distributed banners with slogans demanding a referendum on independence in the Indonesian province. The banners, which Nazar is accused of having distributed on August 17, Indonesia's national day, stated: "Aceh remains within the Republic of Indonesia or Freedom."

The first witness, an official of the provincial treasury office, was asked to detail the procedures for displaying banners in public, but he told the court non-commercial banners did not have to be registered for display.

The second witness, a journalist from the state Televisi Republik Indonesia broadcast, was asked to recount what he saw during a public rally organized by SIRA in Banda Aceh in November, and another public meeting on August 17 last year.

The third witness, an official of the provincial office for socio-political affairs, told the court his office had sent a letter to SIRA, asking it to explain about the organization, and whether it planned to register it to the authorities as required by law. But he said he had received no reply.

The prosecutor also read out the written testimony of two policemen on the November rally and the August 17 public meeting. One of the two had since died and the other had been transfered to another province.

The tightly-guarded trial was poorly attended Wednesday, with some 20 people in the court room mostly from the press.

Nazar was arrested a few days after SIRA organized days of mass rallies involving tens of thousands of people in Banda Aceh in November to help push for the referendum. It was the second mass rally in favor of a referendum. The previous year SIRA held a similar peaceful mass rally of one million people in Banda Aceh.

Demands for a referendum on self determination in Aceh have been fuelled by a decade of harsh military operations that left some 5,000 dead.

There is also resentment at the syphoning off by Jakarta of natural resources from the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Despite a series of shaky truces, more than 200 people have died so far this year in violence between goverment troops and the Free Aceh Movement, which has been fighting for an independent Aceh since the mid-1970s.