The first trial of a Bali bombing suspect began in the Indonesian resort island amid a huge security clampdown.
Amrozi, a village mechanic, faces the death penalty if convicted of the worst terrorist attack since September 11, 2001, in the United States. The bombing of two crowded Bali nightspots last October 12 killed 202 people from 21 countries, many of them young foreign holidaymakers.
Investigators say the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror group, which is thought linked to al-Qaeda, staged the blasts to hit "soft" Western-linked targets in revenge for oppression of Muslims worldwide.
Amrozi, 40, was dubbed the "laughing bomber" for a lighthearted appearance before the media last November. Now he is "prepared for the worst. We told him that the maximum sentence is death," one of his lawyers, Wirawan Adnan, told reporters.
Two paramilitary policemen brought the suspect into the improvised courtroom in an ornately decorated women's function hall.
Chief judge I Made Karna asked Amrozi to confirm his name, nationality and home town. "Your religion?" Karna asked. "Islam," Amrozi replied, adding that he works in a motor repair shop and completed senior high school. "Today are you healthy?" Karna asked. "Healthy," Amrozi replied.
Prosecutors then began reading a 33-page indictment that describes in chilling detail how Amrozi and 12 others, including two of his brothers, allegedly played a direct role in the blasts.
The bombings were staged as a declaration of war against the United States and its allies in revenge for oppression of Muslims, it says. The blasts "resulted in terror on a wide scale" and destroyed 424 buildings including the two targeted nightspots – Paddy's Bar and the Sari Club – in the Kuta tourist district.
Police have said Amrozi's motive was to kill as many Americans as possible. His only regret, they say, is that Australians and not Americans were the main victims. A total of 88 Australians died.
Hundreds of police, some armed, guarded the courthouse. Police say a total of 3,000 are on duty island-wide. Barbed wire barricades sealed off the street amid fears of an angry backlash against the bombers. "Prosecute and sentence to death traitors to the state of Indonesia, including the Bali bombers," read one billboard.
The trial is important for Indonesia and "important for the world," said Bali police chief I Made Mangku Pastika, who led the huge multinational investigation that has netted 33 suspects. He said he hoped the trial will help "uncover all the groups of terrorists in Indonesia."
A bearded Amrozi, who appeared tense, was seated in an ordinary chair before five judges in black and red robes. The indictment says he attended several planning sessions for the Bali bombing.
At one meeting in August 2002, another key suspect Imam Samudra allegedly said "there was a big project of declaring war against the United States of America and a plan was made for some bombing targets in Bali ..." In September, Amrozi bought one tonne of potassium chloride and other chemicals used to build the biggest and deadliest of the three bombs. He sent the entire consignment to Bali by bus.
On October 5, the indictment says, Amrozi and a man called Utomo Pamungkas alias Mubarok drove a Mitsubishi van, which was to carry the biggest bomb, to Bali. At a house in Denpasar two days later, the three bombs were assembled.
On the fatal night a suicide bomber called Feri, alias Isa, detonated an explosives-stuffed vest insid Paddy's Bar. That blast at 11.08 pm drove customers into the street, where they caught the full force of the van bomb detonated outside the nearby Sari Club 29 seconds later. The van bomb was detonated by a man called Arnasan, alias Jimi, who died in the blast. Two seconds after the Sari Club blast, a man called Idris used a mobile phone to detonate a bomb outside the US consulate. It caused no injuries.
Media reports say the trial could last five months. Separate trials of other suspects are expected to begin over the next few weeks.