Alleged Bali bomber Umar Patek has finally faced court after almost two decades of suspected involvement in terrorist activities and 10 years on the run as one of South-East Asia's most wanted.
The 45-year-old was on Monday indicted in the West Jakarta District Court on six charges, including mass premeditated murder for his alleged involvement in the 2002 attacks in Bali.
A number of the charges carry the death penalty.
He is also facing murder charges in relation to the bombing of churches in Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000, as well as charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism, harbouring information on terrorism, possession of explosives and firearms and two counts of document fraud.
Patek, who is accused of building the devices used in the bombing of the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar in the popular tourist area of Kuta, is the last of the key members of the plot to face justice over the 2002 attack which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Until his capture in January last year, Patek had been involved in terrorist activities since the early 1990s after being schooled in making explosives at a Mujaheddin camp on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Prosecutors told the court that between 1996 and 1998 Patek was involved with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines, before returning to Indonesia and linking up with Jemaah Islamiah (JI) - the group behind the Bali bombings.
Also known as 'The Little Arab', he listened intently on Monday as prosecutors spent just over 90 minutes reading the indictment to the court.
He spoke only once, when asked to confirm whether he understood the charges against him.
The indictment alleges Patek was recruited to join the plot to kill tourists in Bali just one month before the bombings.
'When the defendant was in Dulmatin's rented house (in Solo in Java), the defendant met Imam Samudra who asked him to (join in a plot) to kill foreign tourists in Bali using a bomb,' the court was told.
Patek is accused of preparing the 700kg of explosives which was packed into a van and detonated in front of the Sari Club on the night of October 12, 2002.
He also helped load a backpack with explosives which was detonated by a suicide bomber 20 seconds earlier inside Paddy's Bar.
Another device, also prepared by Patek, was detonated near the US consulate in Denpasar on the same night but did little damage.
'After the explosive material had been made the defendant, along with Dr Azahari and Sawad, put the black powder into four sets of filing cabinets,' the court was told.
Patek returned to Solo the day before the bombings, before allegedly meeting up with his co-conspirators a week later at Dulmatin's house where they gloated over the 'success' of their deadly mission.
'The meeting was led by Mukhlas and attended by Amrozi, Imam Samudra, Dulmatin, Ali Imron, Sawad, Abdul Goni, Idris and the defendant where they talked about the success of the bombing in Bali.'
Amrozi, Samudra and Mukhlas, whose real name is Ali Ghufron, were subsequently executed while Dulmatin was killed in an ambush by Indonesian anti-terrorism forces on the outskirts of Jakarta in March 2010.
Earlier, Patek arrived at the court amid heavy security, transported to the venue in an armoured vehicle.
The trial is expected to last more than four months as prosecutors present evidence from 86 witnesses.
