During this week's trial of Rev. Rinaldi Damanik, General Secretary of the Synod of the Protestant Church of Central Sulawesi, he denied ever possessing a weapon, let alone the fourteen handmade guns and ammunition reportedly found in his vehicle. Rev. Damanik's trial began on February 3 but was then postponed until February 10. He is accused of carrying weapons while traveling between Christian villages under attack in August 2002. He maintains that the police set him up when he was stopped.
Damanik was a leader in the peace negotiations to stop the violence in Central Sulawesi. While a leader of the militant Islamic Laskar Jihad has been released (see last week's Persecution & Prayer Alert at www.vomcanada.com/pnparchive/arch3.htm), Damanik faces up to twenty years in prison if convicted. It is feared that Damanik will be a scapegoat to deflect attention from the continuing sympathy for militant Islam within the Indonesian government. According to Radio National from Australia, his lawyers allege that Damanik is a victim of political power plays by the elite and of State-sponsored terrorism. When asked what they thought of the legal system, Damanik's legal team stated, "Of all the systems in Indonesia, the legal system is the most rotten."
Pray that truth will reign and that there might be fairness in the trial. Pray that the peace begun in Indonesia will continue.
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