3. COURT (63cm) -- 36pt Bodoni Bold 7/1 (1x51)
3. COURT (63cm) -- 36pt Bodoni Bold 7/1 (1x51)
Why defendant can walk free after being found guilty can we use this one? -- why not? Muninggar Sri Saraswati The Jakarta Post Jakarta
It happens here every now and then: A defendant is declared guilty but can walk free after the judges have delivered their verdict.
Ari Haryo Wibowo, alias Ari Sigit, and grandson of former president Soeharto, was one of many defendants who "enjoyed" such a verdict. On Dec.20, the Central Jakarta District Court found him guilty of illegal possession of 70 live bullets and sentenced him to a jail term of two months and 22 days.
But he was freed immediately after the hearing because the sentence was deducted from the time he had already spent in detention and under house arrest.
After being arrested on Aug. 14, 2001, Ari was first held at the city police headquarters, and was then transferred to Salemba detention center before he was later put under house arrest. The period he had spent under house arrest was equal to one-third of the time spent in jail. Therefore, the total of the time he spent in detention was exactly equal to two months and 22 days.
Earlier last year, the Central Jakarta District Court found Endin Wahyudin guilty of defaming two Supreme Court Justices, Marnis Kahar and Supraptini Sutarto, and sentenced him to three months' imprisonment.
But Endin was released after the trial because he had spent exactly three months in detention during the interrogation and hearings.
The most recent case occurred last week when the Tangerang District Court convicted a labor activist for stealing a pair of reject sandals from the factory where he used to work.
Even though defendant Hamdani bin Ijin wore the sandals only for the wudhu (ablution ritual) before he performed Friday prayers at the factory compound, he got two months and 24 days, or the same as the time he had spent in detention at the Tangerang Penitentiary.
Hamdani's sentence was more onerous than Ari's, who was charged under Emergency Law No. 12/1951 with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. The charge carried a maximum penalty of death, or a possible life sentence.
Lawyers also questioned why Endin was prosecuted even though he was under the Attorney General's witness protection scheme. The two Supreme Court justices were also prosecuted, but the Central Jakarta District Court later set aside the case, giving the reason that the prosecutor had charged them under the wrong legislation.
While the public was disturbed by the unfair verdicts, it also found it strange to learn that a court could hand down a sentence exactly the same as the length of time already served by the defendant.
A judge at the Central Jakarta District Court, who once handed down a controversial verdict, admitted that judges could give a light sentence because the Criminal Code did not stipulate the minimum length of a jail term.
"Based on the code, a judge is permitted by law to set the term," said the judge, who spoke under condition of anonymity.
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