At 1:00 the defendants sat on the bench and the lead judge asked, using the Amungme translator, if the defendants were well and ready to hear the witness testimony (the defendants have been on a hunger strike for the past five days saying that the FBI tricked them and that witness/victims should testify before other testimony). The defendants said that they were weak (because of the hunger strike) and some said that their stomachs ached (one defendant, Hardi Sugumol is still ill and was not present for court). One of the prosecutors said that a doctor at a hospital examined all those present and the doctor said that they were all in good health.
Johnson Panjaitan, the lead defense lawyer, then argued that he did not have access to his clients and that he did not know for sure if they were in good health or not. The judge told him that it was his responsibility to find out if his clients were in good health and that he should have made the time to find out about their health.
The defendants continued to say that they were not feeling well, and the judge said that they were free to leave. They left at 1:20 P.M. Johnson then asked that court be postponed until Friday, Sept. 22nd, when his clients would be in better health. The prosecutors argued that the three TNI witnesses (who were scheduled to testify) came from Surabaya and insisted that court be held as scheduled. The judge said that the trial would be postponed until Friday, Sept. 22nd, and that Mr. Panjaitan should persuade his clients to eat so that they are well enough to hear the witness testimony on Friday. Court was adjourned at 1:35.
The three soldiers that will testify are; one from the tunnel (who came from the the direction of Timika toward Tembagapura), one from the military base near the ambush site (who came from the direction of Tembagapura toward Timika), and the other soldier was one of many that pursued the shooters on Sept. 1st. They all said that they would come back to testify on Friday.