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Jakarta. Twenty-one men from different backgrounds were on Thursday slapped with various charges for their role in the Aceh paramilitary group, highlighting the fact that it had a diverse following.

Among those indicted at the West Jakarta District Court was Muchtar bin Ibrahim, a member of the Aceh branch of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and a former member of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

In addition to being accused of serving as a co-trainer at the paramilitary camp, Muchtar is also alleged by prosecutors to have been involved in a number of attacks against foreigners in Aceh in 2009.

Police have described the attacks as “on-the-job training” ahead of a planned Independence Day bloodbath targeting the president and other high-ranking officials, in a bid to ultimately create an Islamic state.

Muchtar is accused of being involved in the grenade attack at the Unicef office in Banda Aceh on March 17, 2009; shooting and wounding German Red Cross chief Dr. Erhard Bauer in his car in Aceh Besar on Nov. 5, 2009; and shooting American teachers Michelle Ahmad and Sarah Willis in a housing complex in Banda Aceh, on Nov. 23, 2009.

“His actions spread terror and fear,” said prosecutor Bambang Suharyadi, who charged the defendant with articles under the anti-terror law, which carry the maximum sentence of death.

Muchtar’s lawyer, Sugito Atmoprawito, objected to the indictment, saying that even though the FPI had earned a reputation as a hard-line group, it had never used bombs or guns.

The lawyer also said he would urge the judge to move the trial venue to Aceh, the alleged crime scene, partly to allow the defendant to be closer to his family.

Two other defendants, Andri Marlan Syahputra and Chairul Fuadi, face similar charges of attacking foreigners. They are being tried separately.

A group of four defendants were the first to hear indictments at the court. Adi Munadi, Deni Suhendra, Abu “Munir” Rimba and Ade Miroz are accused of participating in paramilitary training at the militant camp, which the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad raided in February.

According to the indictment, the four were trained to disassemble and reassemble weapons as well as how to use them. They were also alleged to have been trained in several forms of martial arts and group combat.

Similar charges of participating in the training camp were slapped on three other large groups of defendants.

One of the other defendants, Syailendra Ady Sapta, is believed to have been involved in the 2004 car-bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

Former terror convict Aman Abdurrahman, an influential cleric and Arab linguist, faces an individual trial for funding the Aceh camp and harboring top militant Dulmatin, who was killed in the police raid.

According the global think tank International Crisis Group, the Aceh group is “the coming together of mujahideen [fighters] from a number of different groups in Java and Sumatra who believed that a more coherent strategy for jihad in Indonesia was needed.”

The ICG’s Sidney Jones previously said police were not fighting against just one group, but a network of allied cells.

“What we saw in Aceh was an alliance of several different groups, which are now dispersed,” she said.