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Prosecutors set bali case { May 12 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/international/asia/12CND-BALI.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/international/asia/12CND-BALI.html
May 12, 2003
Prosecutors in Bali Bombing Take a Morning to Set Out Case
By SETH MYDANS
DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 12 — It took a team of prosecutors all morning today to read out the 33-page indictment of the first man to go on trial for the bombing of two Bali nightclubs last year that killed more than 200 people.
The defendant, a 40-year-old mechanic named Amrozi, sat alone in the middle of the courtroom, wearing a loose white shirt and rubber sandals and jiggling his knees nervously.
Together with other plotters, the indictment said, Mr. Amrozi "talked about the Muslim obligation toward other Muslims who have been repressed and slaughtered by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir and Iraq."
It accused him of buying more than a ton of explosives and delivering to Bali a minivan that was used in the bombing. He faces a possible death penalty on four counts of terrorism.
Prosecutors say more than 30 other men will also go on trial here in Bali, seven months after the explosions that killed mostly young Western partygoers. Mr. Amrozi's case was adjourned for a week today to allow his lawyers time to prepare a rebuttal statement.
The trial, held in a high-domed, sun-filled convention hall, was packed with about 400 spectators, mostly journalists and foreign diplomats. According to local news reports, Mr. Amrozi's mother was trying to raise the money to travel here from her home in a village in Java.
Several survivors and relatives of victims in the Oct. 12 bombing traveled here from Australia, which suffered the greatest loss, with 88 people killed. Two of the relatives left the courtroom early, apparently in tears.
Peter Hughes, 54, an Australian who was badly burned but survived the attack, said he searched Mr. Amrozi's eyes in an effort to understand him.
"I became quite calm when I saw his eyes because I just felt he knew where he was going to be and he realized the enormity of it all," he told reporters at the trial.
"I saw a normal person. I saw somebody who thinks his end is coming close."
Relatives of Indonesians who lost their lives also joined the overflow crowd outside the courtroom.
"I'm sure all the victims' families want him to be executed," said Ni Made Ratmiti Asiah, whose husband was a driver for one of the nightclubs, the Sari Club. "If the police and the courts can't handle it, we'll do it ourselves."
When a reporter asked her what she meant, she said, "We'll kill him."
There were some boos from spectators when Mr. Amrozi's lawyers began their rebuttal statement, which they will resume next week.
They acknowledged that he had confessed to the actions for which he is charged, but they said these actions did not make him guilty of the bombing itself.
"If he was only present at planning meetings and listened, that is far from what he is accused of in the indictment," said one of the lawyers, Wirawan Adnan. "The indictment does not show whether he was a planner or just a foot soldier."
He told reporters that Mr. Amrozi is "prepared for the worst."
"We told him that the maximum sentence is death," he said.
Mr. Amrozi's voice was heard only briefly this morning when he confirmed to the five-judge panel his name, his age and his occupation. When he was asked if he was ready to face trial, he answered, "Yes."
The Jakarta Post reported today that two other key defendants have written books whose sale would provide an income for their families if they are convicted.
One, by Imam Samudra, who is accused of helping organize the attack, talks about the militant Islamic movement, according to Mr. Wirwan, the defense lawyer.
The other, by Ali Ghufron, an accused leader of the plot who is a brother of Mr. Amrozi, is titled, "My Defense of the Bali Bombings."
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