Activists deplore light sentences in drug cases

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Law enforcers in North Sumatra have failed to uphold the law in the fight against the use and sale of illicit drugs, with a number of controversial verdicts handed down by judges trying drugs cases here lately, a legal activist said on Wednesday.

The secretary-general of the Anti-Drug Movement (GAN), Zulkarnaen Nasution, said the judges had lost their sense of justice with their failure to punish the violators accordingly.

He cited a verdict issued on Tuesday by a panel of judges of the Medan District Court, led by Anwar Zahri, which sentenced Lim Bun Pin, alias Apin, to one year in prison for possessing 21,787 ecstasy pills. Previously, the prosecutors had demanded the death sentence.

A week ago, another panel of judges from the same district court sentenced Joseph Karanja Kamu from Kenya to 15 years in jail for brokering a heroin transaction involving 800.15 kilograms. The prosecutors had also demanded the death penalty.

"These light sentences will not deter drug dealers and users from repeating their offenses, but will instead encourage them to do more," Nasution told The Jakarta Post.

Data from the North Sumatra provincial administration shows that there are 1,174 suspects in drug-related offenses for this year alone, 18 of whom are women.

Nasution said poor performance by law enforcers in North Sumatra was not only dominated by judges as some police officers, prosecutors and prison guards were also involved.

"All of this proves that law enforcement against the illegal sale and abuse of drugs in North Sumatra has failed," he said.

He cited the ongoing trial of Adj. Comr. Bakhtiar Sitinjak, an officer with the Medan Police Cadet School, who is facing the death penalty for his role in trafficking drugs as an example.

Lawyer Wanrinson Sinaga said the judges' controversial verdicts have had a negative impact on the image of Indonesia's judiciary.

"If the judges think that the defendants are not guilty, they should just drop all charges and not give them light sentences," he said.

The head of the Medan District Court, Soltony Mohdali, however, declined to comment on the judges' controversial verdicts, saying that journalists should directly ask the judges themselves.

"I cannot justify whether the verdicts were controversial or not because they were made on the judges' consideration. So you should ask them directly," Soltony said.