Lawyer of the two accused of organ trading hoping for light sentence
By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 02 July 2008 2044 hrs

	Photos  of
	Related News • 2 Indonesian men convicted of organ trading to be in court on Wednesday • Doctors say strict measures are in place to prevent organ trading • Two plead guilty to human organ trading in first such case in S'pore

SINGAPORE: The two Indonesian men convicted of human organ trading are due to be sentenced on July 3 in the subordinate court. It's the first such illegal organ trading case to be prosecuted in Singapore.

26-year-old Sulaiman Damanik and 27-year-old Toni pleaded guilty in court last week to agreeing to sell their kidneys to two patients here. They were arrested on June 19 and have been in remand since June 21.

Sulaiman had intended to sell his kidney to local retail magnate Tang Wee Sung for S$23,700. Toni had already sold his to an Indonesian woman, Juliana Soh, for over S$29,000.

Embassy officials have engaged a defence lawyer for the two men and they all met for about an hour in court.

Kemal Haripurwanto, Minister Counsellor & Head of Protocol and Consular Affairs, Indonesian Embassy, said: "We view this as something which is high profile and this is a serious thing which they are facing.

"The embassy is surprised in a sense, but in all cases, the embassy will very much be concerned about their nationals. So in all cases, the embassy would come to the rescue in giving legal aid.

Defence lawyer, Mr Mohd Muzammil, who was engaged on July 1, said there is no legal precedent here to go by as it is the first such case in a Singapore court. He laid out mitigation plans for the two.

He said: "I will have to expand on family background, their financial circumstances and the circumstances which have driven them to commit this offence... that they have accepted the offer of a substantial amount of money to donate or give away their kidneys...

"They are very simple people - the two of them. My impression of them is that they are not very highly educated, they come from the rural part of Medan and they are in dire straits."

Toni has pleaded guilty to three charges, while Sulaiman admitted to two.

Mr Muzammil, who has met Toni and Sulaiman, said they have agreed to take his advice that the matter should be resolved as soon as possible. That is also the position of the Indonesian Embassy.

The lawyer added that the two are very concerned about their families back home. Toni has two young children, aged two and five, while Sulaiman has aged parents to care for and it is believed that they are unaware of his situation in Singapore.

They could each be fined up to S$10,000 and jailed for up to a year for agreeing to sell their organs.

They could also face further jail time and fines for lying to the hospital transplant ethics committee and making false statutory declarations. - CNA/vm