"We have been coordinating with the Cipinang prison authority about this matter," Head of South Jakarta district Court Muhammad Jusuf told ANTARA here Sunday.
Antasari Azhar was found guilty by the South Jakarta district court`s panel of judges in connection with the high profile case that arose over the murder of businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen last year.
He was sentenced to 18 years in jail but he then filed an appeal to challenge the court`s verdict. However, the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
Muhammad Jusuf said the South Jakarta prosecutors office had even confirmed that Antasari could have been moved to the East Jakarta-based Cipinang prison on January 3.
"The move is done in response to the Supreme Court`s decision (rejection to Antasari Azhar`s appeal-eds.)," he said.
Besides Antasari, former South Jakarta police chief Williardi Wizar would also be moved to the same prison while two other inmates, Sigid Haryo Wibisono and Jerry Hermawan Lo had been moved to Cipinang prison on December 31, 2010.
In connection with this murder case, the South Jakarta district court`s panel of judges, headed by Herri Swantoro, sentenced Antasari Azhar to 18 years in jail last year for masterminding Zulkarnaen`s murder.
All parties related to this case, such as the extended families of the late Nasrudin Zulkarnaen and those of Antasari Azhar, and his lawyers, were disappointed with the jury`s verdict.
The Antasari case has been attracting nation-wide attention since it began in 2009.
On the day the South Jakarta court jury was to announce its verdict in February 2010, a group of local residents in the Central Java town of Temanggung staged a rally to show their sympathy for Antasari.
They said that the sacked KPK chief was only the victim of a "criminalization" plot involving people who resented his actions in fighting corruption.
Apart from the pros and cons in the society, the 18 year-jail sentence the jury had given to Antasari was lighter than the death sentence the prosecutors had asked for him earlier.
Antasari and three other persons, namely businessman Sigit Haryo Wibisono, former South Jakarta police chief Wiliardi Wizard and businessman Jerry Hermawan Lo had been charged with conspiring to eliminate Nasrudin Zulkarnaen.
In earlier court verdicts, Sigit, Wiliardi and Jerry were sentenced to 15, 12 and five years in jail respectively.
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Editor: Bambang
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
