JUBI, 19 August 2011
Melkianus Bleskadit was sentenced yesterday in Manokwari court to two years for his role when the 14-star flag was
raised.
A day earlier, the prosecutor asked for him to be sentenced to five years. The prosecutor has announced that he will
mount an appeal against the verdict.
In a report made public by the human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warimnussy it was stated that Melkianus was arrested
along with Dance Yenu for flying the 14-star flag to mark the anniversary of independence for 'West Melanesia ' on 14
December 2010.
In a comment on the verdict, Yan Christian Warinussy who was also a member of the defence team, said that while the
judges had taken a good decision by limiting the punishment to the criminal element of the incident, indicating that he
was not willing to go as far as the prosecutor, in the end his client had been given a much higher sentence. According
to past experience involving the case of Jacob Wanggai and his colleagues, the judges had passed a shorter sentence
which was subsequently increased at the request of the prosecutor, resulting in a far higher sentence.
He also said that the defendant had been held in a cell of the Manokwari prosecutor at the Manokwari prison in breach of
the law. He said that both the judge as well as the chief prosecutor had obstructed his client's release to the moment
when the high court judge could decide on extending the period of the appeals detention which should have ended on 19
August.
The three hours of freedom that his client should have enjoyed had been denied him by the decisions of the prosecutor
and the judge. Moreover, there was a show of force when a company of police security officers as well special
intelligence personnel stood on guard round Bleskadit at the office of the prosecutor. He said that the the lack of
professionalism by both of these institutions had resulted in his client being deprived of his basic rights.
ENDS