/2014/03/07/1923425772p.jpg)
JAKARTA. From behind bars, former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman and murder convict Antasari Azhar has launched new legal steps as part of his tireless efforts to pursue a court ruling that overturns his conviction as the mastermind of a premeditated murder.
Antasari, who claims he never had a role in the murder of businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen in 2009, has filed a lawsuit against Mayapada Hospital, which held Nasruddin’s body after he had been shot dead, and the Jakarta Police.
The first hearing was held at the Tangerang District Court in Banten on Monday.
“Antasari and Andi Syamsuddin [Nasruddin’s brother] are scheduled to testify,” Antasari’s lawyer, Boyamin Saiman, said on Sunday.
Antasari, who has been serving his 18-year imprisonment at the Tangerang Penitentiary since 2011, has accused the hospital and detectives from the Jakarta Police of “misconduct” for “wiping out” the shirt Nasruddin had been wearing when he was killed, said Boyamin.
The shirt was believed to have bullet residue that could help identify the type of guns used and perhaps also the shooter, he added.
“The clothing of a murder victim is crucial for any homicide investigation. It would not just disappear if there was no conspiracy,” Boyamin said.
Should the court rule in favor of Antasari, he would file a case review with the Supreme Court and use the district court’s verdict as new evidence.
A case review is a last-resort mechanism in Indonesia’s legal system to challenge a final and binding court decision. Having evidence that has never been presented in the past court hearings is a crucial requirement to file a case review.
The Monday court session, however, was suspended since the defendants failed to attend.
Antasari actually filed an initial case review in 2011. The evidence he presented included an information-technology analysis that apparently proved that a text message containing threatening words used by the police to charge Antasari was never actually sent by the latter.
The former KPK chief’s legal team also presented an experts’ analysis that claimed that the bullet holes at Nasruddin’s skull and car showed that the gun used to kill the businessman did not match the one prosecutors presented in court hearings.
Nevertheless, the Supreme Court rejected the case review citing that the evidence was not “entirely new”.
While many legal experts said that a case review could only be filed once, Antasari did not give up.
In March, the Constitutional Court (MK) ruled in favor of Antasari and scrapped provisions at the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) that allowed a convict to file a case review only once.
Antasari and his legal advisors managed to convince MK justices that convicts should be allowed to file a case review more than once to ensure people’s rights to pursue justice.
A hearing on Nasruddin’s murder at the South Jakarta District Court in November 2009 became emotional for Antasari and his family members after senior police officer Sr. Comr. Williardi Wizard testified that he had been involved in a conspiracy orchestrated by high-ranking police officers to frame Antasari.
The panel of judges dismissed the testimony and declared Antasari guilty for masterminding the murder of Nasruddin who had been killed in a drive-by shooting in Tangerang in March 2009.
Antasari’s appeals to higher courts were also rejected.
Boyamin said that the presidential succession from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had inspired hope that the justice that Antasari has sought would emerge.
Last month, Vice President Jusuf Kalla attended a wedding ceremony of Antasari’s daughter Ajeng Oktarifka Antasari Putri. Kalla met Antasari at the wedding, since wardens allowed the murder convict to temporarily leave the prison. (Bagus BT Saragih)
