Garuda Pilot -- Trial

Captain Marwoto Komar the pilot of the ill-fated Garuda flight that crashed in Yogyakarta on 7 March 2007 is to be tried for his alleged negligence in the deaths of 21 people and the injuries of many more.

The trial is to be held in the Sleman District Court (near Yogyakarta) in Central Java. The trial is scheduled to begin on Thursday. There is to be a panel of judges to hear the case.

The final report by Indonesia's air safety investigators stated that Komar was so "fixated" with landing that he ignored 15 alarms and the pleas of his co-pilot. Nevertheless, Komar's arrest was greeted with protests and claims that the data from the black boxes and other flight recording equipment was inadmissible in a court of law pursuant to prevailing laws, regulations, and practices.

This means that the police would have had to obtain evidence that did not rely on the black boxes or the flight recorder information. Obviously the Office of the Public Prosecutor believes that the police have done a sufficient job in this regard to warrant proceeding to trial.