NGOs blast two court rulings on bribery cases<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A coalition of watchdogs on legal affairs has
\nlashed out at two court's decisions to dismiss cases against
\nthree Supreme Court justices who allegedly accepted bribes,
\narguing it was an insult to people's sense of law and justice.<\/p>\n
The Coalition of Judicial Corruption Watch urged the Supreme
\nCourt on Friday to examine both the decisions and the judges who
\nhandled the cases, and openly disclose the examination results to
\nthe public.<\/p>\n
Nizar Suhendra of the Indonesian Transparency Society (MTI)
\nargued that the rulings by judges of the West Jakarta District
\nCourt and Central Jakarta District Court were a bad precedent for
\nthe battle against widespread corruption in the country.<\/p>\n
\"From these decisions we can learn that lawyers can argue
\nagainst the anti-corruption law used by the prosecutors to charge
\ntheir clients,\" he told a media briefing at the Jakarta Legal Aid
\nInstitute.<\/p>\n
The West Jakarta District Court turned down the indictment
\nagainst retired Supreme Court justice Yahya M. Harahap on
\nTuesday, stating that the prosecutor had charged him under the
\nwrong law. The prosecutor, according to Judge Suharyono, had
\ncharged Harahap under the 1999 Anti-Corruption Law while the case
\nwas covered by the 1971 Law, which is no longer valid.<\/p>\n
On the same day, the Central Jakarta District Court dismissed
\nthe trials of Supreme Court justices Supraptini Suprapto and
\nMarnis Kahar, who were charged for a similar crime in connection
\nto Harahap's case.<\/p>\n
Rusdi As'ad, the presiding judge, said that the court had to
\ndismiss the trials of the two defendants as the indictments
\n\"overlapped too much and were inaccurate\".<\/p>\n
He said the prosecutors could not charge the suspects under
\nboth the 1971 Anti-Corruption Law and the Criminal Code, but had
\nto choose either one.<\/p>\n
The three, who allegedly accepted a total of Rp 196 million
\n(some US$16,800) from a middleman in connection with a land case
\nthey were handling in 1998, were also charged under Criminal Code
\narticles for allegedly accepting bribes in their capacity as
\njudges and for reportedly receiving gifts as state officials.<\/p>\n
The coalition of watchdogs argued that the judges' arguments
\nwere illogical because the new Anti-Corruption Law did not
\nreplace the old one and that, by law, it was appropriate for
\nprosecutors to combine charges in a corruption case.<\/p>\n
Asep Rahmat from the Indonesia Society for Judicial Watch
\n(MaPPI) said that there was nothing wrong with the indictments
\nand should there be uncertainties in the laws covering the case,
\nhe challenged the judges to settle it.<\/p>\n
\"The judges have to be brave enough to make their own judgment
\nin battling corruption, and the public should also be taught that
\njudges have the authority to make such a breakthrough,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nizar underlined the urgency for a special corruption
\ntribunal, one free from any interest and influence since graft
\ncases could involve both state institutions and members of the
\njudiciary.<\/p>\n
Separately, Judge Binsar Gultom, who is secretary of the Bogor
\nchapter of Association of Indonesian Judges (IKAHI), said in a
\nstatement made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday that both
\nthe judges and the prosecutors had to decide upon a common
\nconcept on compiling indictments in a bid to avoid further
\naccusations of a conspiracy among judges to protect their own
\nkind. (bby)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ngos-blast-two-court-rulings-on-bribery-cases-1447893297",
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