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Indonesia's former graft fighter gets 18 years' jail for murder |
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(02/11/2010)
Jakarta, PAB-Online
The sacked chief of Indonesia's anti-corruption commission was
sentenced to 18 years' jail for murder on Thursday after a trial
dismissed as a sham by his supporters.
"The defendant has been found guilty of involvement in a premeditated murder," chief judge Herri Swantoro told the South Jakarta District Court at the end of the four-month trial.
Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar, 56, showed little emotion as the verdict was read out, and immediately announced to the court that he would appeal the ruling.
"I respect today's verdict but as a citizen and law-enforcer we are going to appeal," he told the judging panel to cheers from his supporters in the public gallery.
Prosecutors also said they would consider appealing the verdict, which was lighter than the death penalty sought by the state.
The case has gripped Indonesia since Azhar's arrest on May 4 for allegedly organising the murder of businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, his alleged rival for the affections of 22-year-old golf caddy Rhani Juliani.
The former prosecutor who led a series of successful investigations into corrupt officials and lawmakers has maintained that he is being framed in a bid to destroy the KPK and sabotage anti-graft efforts.
As head of the anti-graft commission for two years, Azhar oversaw a series of high-profile probes into government officials and institutions, including the father-in-law of one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's sons.
The case against Azhar came amid a high-level plot to undermine the KPK, in which two of the commission's deputies were arrested on bogus charges of bribery and blackmail.
Anti-graft watchdogs regularly rank Indonesia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world.(AFP/IP)
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