First Bali bombing trial to start May 12

5.45pm

JAKARTA - A man who joked and appeared to gloat over the Bali blasts that killed 202 people goes on trial from May 12, the first leading suspect to face court over the attack.

Police say Amrozi, a mechanic from East Java, has confessed to his involvement in last October's bombings, the worst terror attack since the September 11, 2001, strikes on the United States.

He faces the death penalty for plotting and arranging people to carry out terror acts causing mass casualties.

"It will start on May 12, Monday...at 9am," Ida Bagus Dwiantara, spokesman of the Denpasar district court that will preside over the trial, told Reuters.

Police say Amrozi's role included buying a mini-van used as a car bomb for the biggest of the blasts, as well as some of the explosives used.

He was the first suspect arrested after the powerful blasts rocked Indonesia's leading tourist spot. Police have since arrested more than 30 suspects in the case.

Amrozi was paraded in November before more than 100 reporters and cameramen, giggling and joking, and questioned behind glass panels showing no signs of remorse.

Officials say the attacks were planned and carried out by Muslim militants linked to the Jemaah Islamiah Southeast Asia militant group.

Authorities in many countries accuse Jemaah Islamiah of plotting or carrying out bombings elsewhere in the region and of links to the al Qaeda network, the group blamed by the United States for the September 11 attacks.

Amrozi's lawyers are trying to change the venue but no final decision has been announced.

- REUTERS

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