[Philip Argy]

News just in from Djakarta via AAP:

Garuda pilot's conviction quashed
December 11, 2009 - 8:59PM




AAP
An Indonesian court has overturned a criminal negligence conviction of a Garuda pilot whose plane crashed in 2007 killing 21 people, including five Australians.
A lawyer for Marwoto Komar says the Yogyakarta High Court has quashed Komar's conviction and two-year prison sentence imposed by a district court earlier this year.
"The defendant tried to make a maximum effort as a captain to save the plane and the passengers," lawyer Muchtar Zuhdy told AAP after being given a copy of the court's decision on Friday.
"He is not guilty."
Zuhdy said that the court had also ordered charges against Komar be dropped, meaning prosecutors could not appeal the decision.
"That means this decision is the final decision," Zuhdy said.
Komar's Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007.
Five Australians were killed in the crash: diplomat Liz O'Neill, AusAID official Allison Sudradjat, Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, and Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish.
Investigators had argued Komar ignored a series of warnings not to land the plane as he brought it in at about twice the safe speed.
But Komar blamed the disaster on mechanical problems.