Indonesia prosecutors seek death in graft-commission murder case

Tue, 19 Jan 2010

Jakarta - Indonesian prosecutors sought the death penalty Tuesday for a former chief of Indonesia's anti-graft commission and two alleged accomplices, accused of the murder of a businessman in a politically charged case. Prosecutors said Antasari Azhar, former chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, commissioned the shooting of businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen to cover up his affair with the victim's wife.

The case has triggered speculations of a conspiracy to weaken the anti-corruption commission following a series of successful prosecutions against legislators, a prosecutor, businessmen and senior government officials.

The commission was created in 2003 to tackle Indonesia's endemic corruption with the power to arrest and prosecute suspects.

Azhar, who has been detained since May, was officially dismissed from his job in August.

Prosecutors in separate hearings at a South Jakarta district court also demanded death sentences for Azhar's alleged main accomplices, police Commissioner Williardi Wizar and newspaper publisher Sigit Haryo Wibisono.

The three defendants have denied any wrongdoing, with Azhar insisting that he was framed.

"It's a public deception," Azhar told reporters after the hearing. "God has a plan, the best plan. I leave the judgment to the public."

Prosecutors charged that Azhar killed Zulkarnaen after the businessman allegedly threatened to make public his affair with Zulkarnaen's wife, a golf caddy.

Verdicts for the three defendants are expected next month.

The court has already sentenced the man who pulled the trigger to 18 years in jail.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304556,indonesia-prosecutors-seek-death-in-graft-commission-murder-case.html.