Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – In a high-profile illegal logging trial, the Jayapura District Court on Monday returned the case against Papua Forestry Office head Marthen Kayoi to the prosecution, advising that the charges against the official are "premature".

Presiding judge Lodewyk Tiwery told prosecutors to first focus on bringing cases against Papua's governor, the late JP Solossa, and Papua's former forestry head, Hugo Rajaar, who Marthen replaced, before charging Marthen.

Marthen was declared a criminal suspect following a high-profile report on the smuggling of 300,000 cubic meters of timber per month from Indonesia – mostly Papua province – to China.

When this long-running trial opened last April, prosecutors requested a six-year jail sentence for Marthen, who they accused of violating articles 50 and 78 of the 1999 Forestry Law and Article 55 of the Criminal Code.

Judge Lodewyk acknowledged Marthen had issued permits to harvest logs on tribal grounds, which is considered a violation of the 1999 law.

However, he said the permits were issued based on a circular issued by the Papua governor on Aug. 22, 2002, which provided guidelines for tribal communities to harvest forest products. The circular was in accordance with articles 37 and 76 of the 1999 Forestry Law, which regulates the use and management of forests by tribal communities.

When asked why the court originally accepted the prosecution's charges against Marthen, Lodewyk, who has been chief of the Jayapura District Court for two months, said the decision was made by the original panel of judges hearing the case, which had since been replaced. He gave prosecutors a week to decide on the future of the case.

The prosecution, led by Dadang Wibawa, said the court's decision only focused on the permits but ignored the fact that the suspect also issued permits allowing heavy equipment to be used to move the logs.

"We'll think the decision over, but the prosecution stands by their decision not to stop the legal process," Dadang said.

The defendant's lawyer, Budi Setyanto, said the court's decision made sense because his client was only continuing the policy of the previous forestry office head. "Two other officials, the (late) governor and the former forestry office head, should be prosecuted before our client," he said.

Marthen, who refused to make a statement after the trial, was named a suspect following the publication of a high-profile report, titled The Last Frontier, which found more than US$1 billion in illegal timber had been smuggled out of the country.

The report, which was released last February by the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency and Indonesian environmental group Telapak, found Papua was the main illegal logging hub in the country.

Following the report's release – which alleged that illegal logging operations were backed by high-ranking Indonesian Military officers working with government officials and law enforcers – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered an "integrated crackdown" on all parties suspected of involvement in illegal logging.