BBC : Verdict due for Bali bomb suspect

Verdict due for Bali bomb suspect

BBC News : September 14, 2006

An Indonesian court is due to deliver its verdict against Anif Solchanudin, who is accused of involvement in the 2005 Bali bombings.

Three other people have already been sentenced in connection with the triple suicide blasts, which killed 20 people.

Mr Solchanudin, 24, is accused of helping to plan the attacks, although prosecutors say he did not actually participate in them himself.

Prosecutors have recommended he serves 10 years in jail if found guilty.

Mr Solchanudin, a mobile phone salesman, admitted earlier in his trial that he had been interested in becoming a suicide bomber.

But he denies knowing anything about the bombings before they took place.

He is one of four people to be charged over last year's Bali attacks.

Earlier this month, Mohammad Cholily was found guilty of supplying equipment, and Dwi Widyarto was found to have helped produce a disc of Noordin Mohammad Top, the plot's alleged mastermind.

Abdul Aziz was jailed for eight years for sheltering Noordin, who remains at large.

Elusive ringleader

The October 2005 attacks were the second major bombing on the resort island.

In 2002, more than 200 people died in the bombing of a bar and nightclub in Bali.

The Indonesian government blamed the regional Islamist militant group, Jemaah Islamiah, for both attacks.

Noordin Top is wanted in connection with both attacks, as well as a string of others in Indonesia.

Previously believed to be one of al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah's key financiers and recruiters, analysts now think Noordin may have broken away to form a new militant group.

The man thought to have been his closest ally, bomb maker Azahari Husin, was killed during a police raid in November 2005, but successive attempts to locate Noordin have failed.