A group of law lecturers and constitutional and administrative law\npractitioners organised under the Constitutional and Administrative Law\nSociety (CALS) have submitted a written amicus curiae brief in the case\ninvolving Delpedro Marhaen and others, concerning allegations of\nincitement related to demonstrations on 25-30 August 2025.<\/p>\n
The amicus curiae document was presented directly to the judge panel\nat the Jakarta Central District Court (PN Jakarta Pusat) on Monday (2\nMarch).<\/p>\n
\u201cI am Bivitri Susanti, as Head of the Presidium of the Constitutional\nand Administrative Law Society, a collective of law lecturers and\nconstitutional and administrative law practitioners, representing 19\npeople providing an amicus curiae or friends of the court document,\u201d\nsaid Bivitri at the Jakarta Central District Court.<\/p>\n
She stated that in the document, her group highlighted the\ncriminalisation of the defendants in the alleged incitement case.<\/p>\n
Bivitri said the actions of the defendants in expressing their views\npreviously constituted a constitutional right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe as law lecturers and constitutional and administrative law\npractitioners are very aware, and because of that have a moral basis to\nconvey to the Judge that speaking is indeed a constitutional right. What\nis happening to them today, they are only four out of thousands of\nothers doing the same, being criminalised,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
According to her, the defendants are also experiencing weaponisation\nof law, where the law is being used for purposes of silencing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chilling effect of this. So one of the terms we used in the\ndocument is indeed chilling effect. How with intent they, so to speak,\nthis is malicious prosecution. So prosecution for evil purposes\nessentially. This is deliberate so that young people do not speak and\ncriticise those in power,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in this case, prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence\nfor Delpedro Marhaen, Executive Director of the Lokataru Foundation.<\/p>\n
Similar demands were made by prosecutors against three other\ndefendants: Muzaffar Salim, a Lokataru Foundation staff member and\nmanager of the Instagram account Blok Politik Pelajar; Syahdan Husein,\nadministrator of @gejayanmemanggil<\/span>; and Khariq\nAnhar, a Riau University student and administrator of the Aliansi\nMahasiswa Menggugat.<\/p>\n According to prosecutors, the defendants have been proven to have\ncarried out electronic incitement related to the 25-30 August 2025\ndemonstrations which resulted in unrest causing damage to public\nfacilities and injury to officers, as stipulated in the third charge\nunder Article 246 of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code\n(KUHP) in conjunction with Article 20 letter c KUHP.<\/p>\n \u201c(Seeking the judge panel to impose a sentence on Defendant I\nDelpedro Marhaen, Defendant II Muzaffar Salim, Defendant III Syahdan\nHusein, and Defendant IV Khariq Anhar with a prison sentence of 2 years\nreduced by the time the defendants have spent in detention,\u201d the\nprosecutor said when reading the criminal sentence demand at the Jakarta\nCentral District Court on Friday (27 February).<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/constitutional-scholars-submit-amicus-curiae-brief-in-delpedro-case-1772464117",
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