Indonesian militant jailed for 15 years for Bali attacks
- Aris Sumarsono was found guilty of harbouring suspects and hiding information about the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists
- The Islamic militant went on the run for 18 years after the attacks but was tracked down two years ago by counterterrorism police
An Islamic militant who eluded capture for 18 years was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after an Indonesian court found him guilty of hiding information about the 2002 Bali bombings from authorities and harbouring other suspects.
Prosecutors previously demanded a life sentence for Aris Sumarsono, 58, whose real name is Arif Sunarso but is better known as Zulkarnaen, for his role in the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists including 88 Australians and seven Americans.
However, the panel of three judges in East Jakarta District Court said they ignored the prosecutors’ first charge because the prosecution period had expired, and they sentenced Zulkarnaen to 15 years in jail for harbouring other suspects, including bomb-maker Upik Lawanga, and for hiding information from authorities about the deadly attacks.
Indonesia’s Criminal Code stipulates that the authority to prosecute criminals is abolished after 18 years.
“The accused is found guilty in a legal and convincing manner of carrying out an act of terrorism of third charge,” the presiding judge told the court in a session that was held remotely due to the pandemic, adding that Zulkarnaen knew about the terrorism attacks but “did not tell authorities; instead, he harboured a terror suspect.”
