Indonesian teenager jailed over Central Java bombing spree

Indonesian teenager jailed over Central Java bombing spree

2011-04-08 03:45:43 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- A 17-year-old Indonesian student was sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a terrorist cell, the Jakarta Globe reported.

A court in the regency of Klaten in Central Java ruled that Arga Wiratama was guilty of involvement in a series of attacks and attempted attacks on churches and police stations in Central Java and Yogyakarta at the end of last year. Prosecutors were looking for a four-year sentence. 



Judge Ahmad Setyo Pujihartoyo said Arga violated the 2003 Anti-Terrorism Law by placing explosive devices at several locations in Klaten and Solo.



"His acts have caused fear, triggered interreligious hostility and threatened the lives of members of the public," he said. 

"However, because the young man has admitted his actions, shown remorse and does not have any prior convictions, the court has decided to punish him lightly."

The judges concluded that the terrorist group had incited the "impressionable" teenager. Wiratama, who was accompanied by his parents at the hearing, accepted the verdict and said he would not appeal, according to the newspaper.

Wiratama was arrested along with six other teenagers in a raid by the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad on January 27. Some of them were engineering students in local vocational schools.



The six young men were believed to have been behind unexploded bombs found at two police posts and three churches in Solo on December 1, 2010. The group is also suspected of detonating small explosives at a market and a church six days later.

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