Bantleman trial continues

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A Burlington man is facing a steep climb to freedom, as he fights to get out of an Indonesian prison.

Neil Bantleman has been behind bars since July, on charges that he molested young students, at an elite private school in Jakarta.

Kevin O’rourke has a degree from Harvard in government administration. For the last decade, he has been running an organization that monitors Indonesian politics and law.

He’s been following the Bantleman trial, and believes that even though the prosecution’s case is shaky — the ‘fix may be in’.

Neil Bantleman returned to an Indonesian courtroom this morning, facing 15 years in prison. He’s accused of molesting young boys at the prestigious Jakarta InterCultural School, and today, one of the alleged victims testified by teleconference for three hours.

The boy had trouble matching his testimony to the facts laid out by the prosecution, but the bulk of the testimony involved the mother of one of the alleged victims. According to Bantleman’s wife Tracy, she too had problems with the evidence: “Her story was not consistent with what she had originally claimed in her report to the police.”

At least one outside expert, Kevin O’Rourke says, he’s not surprised: “My impression is that this is a sham case.”

Kevin O’Rourke heads Reformasi Information Systems, a watchdog group that reports on legal issues, to foreign businesses, and non-government organizations: “The evidence is sorely lacking. There’s numerous highly dubious elements about the case. And there’s ample reason for reasonable doubt about the allegations made by the prosecution.”

O’Rourke says that, given the current political climate in Indonesia, the integrity of the Justice system is highly suspect: “There have also been cases that have shown severe malfeasance of a very high level of both the police and the attorney general’s office.”

And O’Rourke says that means that a lack of evidence and shaky testimony may not be enough to keep Neil Bantleman from being convicted: “I think the prospects to Mr. Bantleman are very questionable. It’s pretty gloomy.”

O’Rourke said that anything from simple extortion to more sinister elements, could be pushing Bantleman toward prison.

He suggested that what he termed outside actors could be manipulating the justice system in a bid to intimidate foreign diplomats whose children attend the school. Or that perhaps the land on which the school sits in crowded Jakarta has become so valuable that criminal elements see a profit, in driving the school out.