Rights court building neglected<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Several court clerks with file folders in their hands entered the
\nthree-story white building, while several others exited. A couple
\nsat on a wooden bench on the first floor outside a room marked
\nwith a sheet of paper reading, "Human rights courtroom".<\/p>\n
But the two are not defendants in a human rights abuse, as the
\nfirst floor of the Jakarta Human Rights Court building has been,
\ninformally, converted into an office for the process-server of
\nthe Jakarta Commercial Court.<\/p>\n
The Rp 2 billion (US$241,000) building shows signs of damage:
\nbroken tiles here and there, the elevator is out of order, and no
\none would use the restrooms if was not an emergency.<\/p>\n
Since its inauguration on Jan. 31, 2002, the country's first
\never Human Rights Court building -- which is connected to the
\nCentral Jakarta District Court and the Commercial Court building
\n-- has never been used in accordance with its function.<\/p>\n
According to several court clerks, who spoke on condition of
\nanonymity, the secluded courtrooms of the building were a
\nstrategic place to hold hearings "secretly", late in the
\nafternoon, when court reporters have already left to make their
\ndeadline. At such hearings, the defendants usually receive very
\nlight sentences. Among the cases tried in the courtrooms are
\nminor drug abuses.<\/p>\n
Only the third floor of the building is used by non-career
\nhuman rights judges as their "courtroom" to try cases related to
\nthe 1999 independence ballot in East Timor, since the ad hoc
\ntribunal of rights perpetrators started in March 2002.<\/p>\n
"The current tribunal grabbed wide public attention, therefore
\nwe decided to use the big rooms to enable us to play host to a
\nlarge number of attendants," Central Jakarta District Court
\nspokesman Andi Samsan Nganro told The Jakarta Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
Each of the floors has one 8x5 square meter room, and about
\nhalf of the big courtrooms at the main building are always packed
\nwith journalist and supporters of the rights defendants.<\/p>\n
Nganro said he had no idea how the process-server ended up
\nwith the first floor of the rights court as their office. But he
\npromised that the court would restore the building to its
\noriginal function, especially because a human rights case on the
\n1984 massacre in Tanjung Priok, East Jakarta, was awaiting trial.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rights-court-building-neglected-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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