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Courts jail more Bali bomb accomplices
Judges on Wednesday jailed three men for more than four years for their part in last year's Bali bomb attacks in which 202 people died. In separate trials, judges handed down sentences for the men accused of assisting those accused of the bombings, seen as the worst global terror acts after the September 11, 2002 attacks on the United States. Judge Cokorda Rai Suamba found one of the men, Puriyanto, guilty of having helped hide key Bali bombers Ali Imron and Mubarok while they were on the run, sentencing him to four years and eight months in jail. Puriyanto has yet to decide whether to appeal the sentence, which was lighter than the seven years sought by prosecutors, his lawyer Ari Purwanto said. At another trial in the same court, Judge Ida Bagus Jagra sentenced Sukastopo, 49, to three years for hiding information on the whereabouts of suspects sought by police. Sukastopo, the judge said, knew that Imron and Mubarok had been taken to an isolated Indonesian island, but did not inform the authorities. Sukastopo's lawyer told the court his client would not appeal. At a separate trial in the same court building, a panel of judges sentenced Eko Hadi Prasetyo to four years for assiting Puriyanto in taking Imron and Mubarok to the island. Meanwhile, judges at another trial, postponed the reading of the sentence on another accomplice, Mujarot, until Monday saying that they were not yet ready with the verdict. The four men are known to be part of the "Berukang" group of accomplices, named after the island in Indonesia's East Kalimantan where Imron and Mubarok were captured in hiding. Bali's courts have already jailed one of the key players in the group, Hamzah Baya, to six years in jail. Some 34 people have been arrested for the October 12, 2002 bomb attacks targeted at popular nightspots on the island. Three top operatives — Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas — have been sentenced to face a firing squad. Ali Imron, the brother of Amrozi and Mukhlas and the only bomber to express remorse, got a life sentence.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-10-09 |
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