Probation sentence sought for man tried for slander<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Endin Wahyudin, a defendant in a defamation case
\nagainst two Supreme Court justices, expressed his frustration as
\nthe prosecutor asked the Central Jakarta District Court on
\nTuesday to sentence him to a three-month suspended jail term with
\na six-month probation period.<\/p>\n
\"This country wants to combat corruption, collusion and
\nnepotism. So how could a man like me, who has reported corruption
\ninvolving justices, be put on trial?,\" Endin told reporters after
\nthe court was closed by Presiding Judge Amirudin Zakaria.<\/p>\n
He said that the court was supposed to free him from all
\ncharges as it had yet to examine whether he had slandered the
\njustices.<\/p>\n
\"I'm not the only one who tried to bribe the justices. I
\nreported the case for the sake of the supremacy of the law. The
\nAttorney General's Office, along with the (now defunct) Joint
\nAntiCorruption Team (TGPTPK) had promised to protect me, but they
\nsent me to this trial. It's just not fair,\" Endin said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Hasan Madani said in his indictment that Endin
\nviolated Article 311 of the Criminal Code by defaming two
\njustices, Supraptini Sutarto and Marnis Kahar, as he told the
\nTGPTPK that he had bribed each of them with some Rp 50 million
\n(US$5,882) to win the case of his acquaintance Sunata Sumali,
\nwhich concerned a dispute over a 17,000-square-meter plot of land
\nin Bandung, West Java, with plaintiff Aminah.<\/p>\n
Endin, who at the time acted as a middleman, also reported
\nanother justice named Yahya Harahap, who had since retired, for
\nreceiving some Rp 96 million in bribes.<\/p>\n
According to Endin, he came to the Attorney General's Office
\nand met former attorney general Marzuki Darusman and chairman of
\nTGPTPK Adi Andojo as \"he wanted to help them disclose corruption
\ncases in legal institutions.\"<\/p>\n
Ironically, soon after TGPTPK revealed the corruption case to
\nthe public, Endin had to face trial as Supraptini and Marnis had
\nfiled a lawsuit with the National Police in August against him
\nand TGPTPK chairman Adi Andojo for defamation.<\/p>\n
Even though the court, along with West Jakarta District Court
\nhad opened the trial of Supraptini, Marnis and Yahya for
\nallegedly receiving bribes, they later on turned down the
\nindictments, saying that prosecutors had charged the justices
\nunder the wrong law.<\/p>\n
\"The witnesses and evidence showed that Endin failed to prove
\nwhether he, along with his friend Mesri Pasaribu, had directly
\nhanded over money to the justices, as many witnesses, including
\nEndin himself, said that they had delivered the money through the
\njustices' staff,\" Hasan told the court.<\/p>\n
The judge adjourned the trial until Sept. 25 to hear the
\ndefense.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
\nRights Association (PBHI) told The Jakarta Post that the trial
\nhad closed any prospect of public participation in disclosing
\ncorruption cases.<\/p>\n
\"We can see that there's just no legal guarantee for members
\nof the public, who wish to help the government to combat
\ncorruption. The person who reported the case has now been sent to
\ntrial for another case, which is defamation and accused of being
\nguilty,\" Hendardi said.<\/p>\n
\"It is even worse that justices have protected their
\ncolleagues from alleged corruption by taking advantage of a
\nloophole in Anticorruption Law No. 3\/1999 as this law doesn't
\nrecognize a retroactive principle,\" Hendardi said.<\/p>\n
Hendardi said that Marzuki and Adi Andojo had failed to
\nprotect Endin as their witness and asserted that \"this country's
\nlegal system does not recognize witness protection programs.\"<\/p>\n
\"We can't blame Pak Marzuki and Pak Adi for this. All we can
\ndo now is propose to the Supreme Court to immediately establish
\nan independent team to probe these corruption cases,\" he said.
\n(tso)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/probation-sentence-sought-for-man-tried-for-slander-1447893297",
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