Victims, residents await first Bali bomb verdict

By JOANNE COLLINS

BALI, Indonesia - Across this paradise isle people are waiting impatiently for a panel of Indonesian judges to issue the first verdict today in trials of three dozen people accused in the blasts that killed 202 people on Bali last year.

Prosecutors want the Indonesian mechanic Amrozi, dubbed the laughing bomber, to be sentenced to death on the charges that he played a key role in the blasts that killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists enjoying Bali's famous nightlife on October 12 last year.

Amrozi, 40, has admitted involvement in the attacks during the trial and once said "whites" deserved to die.

Those eager for retribution from the five judges ranged from waiters who survived the bombs that destroyed two popular clubs, to Australians maimed in the attacks and local entrepreneurs who have scraped to make a living since the blasts devastated the island's tourism industry.

About half of the dead in Bali were Australians. Several dozen Indonesians, including Balinese, also died.

"You must die Amrozi," read a message posted on the green fence in front of a mound of earth that was once the Sari club.

Plenty is at stake for the world's most populous Muslim nation in the trials of 38 suspects arrested over Bali, especially in the wake of Tuesday's powerful car bomb attack at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 10 people.

Indonesia had been basking in international praise for showing the world it could tackle the Bali bombings, blamed on Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiah militant Muslim network.

The Marriott attack shows it has plenty left to do.

Police have said the two attacks bore similarities, but have not accused Jemaah Islamiah of responsibility.

Two of Amrozi's brothers are also on trial for Bali.

But as the first suspect arrested, Amrozi has been a focal point of anger in Bali, a picture-postcard mix of golden beaches, emerald rice fields and gentle people.

Amrozi's giggling delight at the attacks, broadcast in a public police interrogation a month after the Bali blasts, shocked people across this Hindu island and around the world.

He also gained notoriety by laughing at Indonesian witnesses.

Like other accused Bali bombers, Amrozi came under the sway of the teachings of Abu Bakar Bashir, alleged head of Jemaah Islamiah. Police have linked Bashir to the Bali blasts but not named him as a suspect. The cleric has denied any wrongdoing.

Amrozi's lawyer has said that legally, the only thing that could be proved was that he had sent chemical substances to Bali.

The defendant has told the court he brought a minivan from his home on Java island so it could be made into a massive car bomb.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast