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Prosecutors at a state court in Bali on Tuesday recommended that judges impose the death sentence on a man they said had murdered a journalist in February last year.

Lalu Saifudin, the prosecutor in the case, said the evidence and testimony heard during the trial showed that defendant I Nyoman Susrama was guilty of having murdered Anak Agung Narendra Prabangsa, a journalist from the Radar Bali newspaper.

“The defendant has been legally and convincingly proven to have committed a crime that took the life of another,” Lalu told the Denpasar District Court, arguing for capital punishment.

Susrama, he said, had been proven to have violated the Criminal Code by engaging in premeditated murder.

Lalu also said that in addition to not expressing remorse over the crime, the defendant had also failed to provide straightforward answers during his trial.

“None of these [things] can mitigate his sentence,” Lalu said.

Edy Bujana, another prosecutor, said that a meeting at Susrama’s house in Bebalang, Bangli, on Feb. 6, 2009, also attended by I Komang Gede, I Nyoman Wiradnyana, and Komang Gede Wardhana, was where plans for Prabangsa’s murder were made.

During the meeting, Susrama aired his anger about Prabangsa’s story, published in Radar Bali, about suspected graft in several projects of the Bangli district’s education office, including a kindergarten and elementary school project headed by the defendant, Edy said.

On Feb. 11, 2009, Wardhana, Wiradnyana and Dewa Gede Mulya Antara, aka Sumbawa, picked up the victim at Taman Bali in Bangli and brought him to the defendant, Susrama.

“At that time, the defendant ordered the beating, and eventually beat [the victim] himself, with a wooden plank that took the life of Prabangsa,” Edy said.

“I did not commit [the murder] that I have been charged with,” said Susrama, a younger brother of Bangli district head Nengah Arnawa, after the recommendation was read out.

In a separate trial, prosecutor Agung Mega also sought the death penalty for Wiradnyana, whom he said had helped plan the murder and beat the victim with a piece of wood.

At yet another trial, prosecutor Argita Chandra demanded a life sentence for Komang Gede, who was also involved in planning the murder and beating the victim, although he had only beaten him with his bare hands.

“He is still young and behaved nicely at the trial,” Argita said, to explain his recommendation for the lighter sentence.

Four other defendants, including Wardhana and Sumbawa, are facing the same charges as Susrama and Gede, while two other men are also facing charges of being accomplices in the murder.