Gede Suardana, Denpasar – A sentence of five months jail and 10 months probation is being sought by the prosecution for 12 Udayana University students from the People’s Struggle Front for Democracy (Front Perjuangan Rakyat untuk Demokrasi, Frontier). They were brought to trial in the aftermath of a demonstration in which they allegedly insulted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The charges were read out by public prosecutor Anak Agung alit Swastika in a court hearing at the Denpasar State Court on Jalan Sudirman on Monday December 5. The hearing was presided over by Judge Putu Widnya.

The students who are being tried jointly, are being charged under Article 55 Section 1 of Part I of the Criminal Code on entering a given location without paying heed to the owner.

The defendants, Muamar Kadafi and his fiends, are being tried because they allegedly disrupted and obstructed officers of the Denpasar High Court in carrying out their duties. They held a demonstration and spent three nights in the grounds of the high court between June 15-16 (sic), 2005.

The demonstration was protesting a verdict against one of their colleagues, Gendo Suardana, who the judge found guilty of insulting Yudhoyono. Suardana had set fire to posters of Yudhoyono during a demonstration against fuel price increases at the end of December 2004.

During their action at the Denpasar High Court, the 12 students scribbled on the walls and sealed of the court’s doors. As a result, court officials were unable to work normally. (nrl)

[Translated by James Balowski.]