Subversion trial hearing postponed after disturbances in court

FYI

KBR69N, Jayapura, 17 February 2012The hearing of a trial in Papua had to be postponed  because of disturbances that broke out in court. The hearing was being held in order to hear some of the 17  witnesses.

The disturbances began as the chairman of the panel of judges was reading out the court regulations during the trial. When the five defendants rejected this, a heated argument broke out in which many of those attending the hearing also became involved.

Initially, the judge announced that the hearing would be closed for ten minutes  but he was eventually forced to close the hearing after announcing that it had been the intention to hear the testimony of some of the witnesses.

‘The events which occurred had not been predicted. Sometimes predictions about the weather turn out to be wrong. But we hope that conditions in future will be more conducive so that the trail can proceed peacefully and can go ahead in accordance with the timing as planned,’ said the judge.

The five defendants who face the charge of makar – subversion – had previously announced the establishment of the Federal Republic of West Papua. The five men are Forlorus Yaboisembut, Dominikus Serabut, Edison Waromi, August Kraar and Selfius Bobii. They face the maximum sentence of twenty years.