Wamena, Jubi – The trial against the Polish man Jakub Fabian Skrzypski and Simon Magal accused of treason finally be held at Wamena District Court on Monday (1/14/2019).
Chief Judge Yajis, SH, MH accompanied by member judges Roberto Naibaho SH and Ottow W.T.G.P Siagian, SH read the 14 pages charges for both defendants.
Earlier, the Polish Jakub Fabian Skrzypski went on a hunger strike and declined to attend the trial on 8 January 2019 as he preferred to continue the hearing in Jayapura. His act consequently caused a delay.
For the recent trial, however, as Skrzypski still denied the trial, his attorney Yance Tenoye said the prosecutor came to the police custody to force his client attending the hearing.
Furthermore, Tenoye said the attorney team has tried to persuade his client to pursue the trial, but he remained to refuse. However, they thought he has the right to do so.
“However, the prosecutor said that he would take Jakub to the trial after coordinating with the security forces. So Jakub was forced to attend the trial. Even the prosecutor said inappropriate words against him,” Tenoye told reporters after the trial.
Moreover, Tenoye said the trial run smoothly. However, the defendant’s application to have a Polish interpreter was denied by the court, as English was considered enough by the judges.
“I think it’s defendant’s right to ask for the Polish interpreter and the court should consider it,” said Tenoye.
By contrast, the prosecutor Ricarda Arsenius, who’s also the Head of the General Crime Department of Jayawijaya Prosecutor Office, said no intimidation occurred regarding the attending of the defendant at trial.
He further claimed what he did was only to prompt the order of the panel of judges to bring the defendant to the court. “Jakub initially objected to coming to the hearing, but after we talked and convinced him, he changed his mind. The next session will be held on 21 January 2019 to hear the exceptions by defendants’ attorney team,” Arsenius said.
Meanwhile, Latifa Anum Siregar from Skrzypski’s attorney team admitted that in the next trial, her team would present their exceptions from two aspects. First, the chapters of law applied by the prosecutor to charge her client. The prosecutor uses the alternative chapters 1 or 3 or 4, which show the hesitant of the prosecutor which sections should he presents at the hearing. Moreover, according to her, these articles are weak to apply in the court.
“The second aspect is we will observe the clearance and the compliance of the charges. We will prepare our exceptions for the next 21 January,” she said. (*)
Reporter: Islami Adisubrata
Editor: Pipit Maizier
