Amnesty International: Police Not Authorised to Hand Over Andrie Yunus Case to Military

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — The Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, has criticised the transfer of the handling of the acid attack case against KontraS activist Andrie Yunus to the TNI’s Military Police Centre (Puspom). He assessed that this step lacks a legal basis and risks ignoring the victim’s rights. According to Usman, the matter affecting Andrie Yunus is a general criminal offence and should therefore be processed through the civilian justice mechanism, not the military one. “The police have no legal basis or obligation to hand over or transfer the case file to the military. None,” he stressed when met at the Kamisan Action in front of the Merdeka Palace, Central Jakarta, on Thursday (2/4/2026). “What exists is the police handing over the case file to the Prosecutor’s Office/Public Prosecutor (JPU). The JPU is obliged to transfer it to the civilian court,” he explained. He emphasised that since the victim is a civilian and the case falls under general criminal law, the civilian court route is the appropriate mechanism. In addition to the case transfer, Usman also highlighted the plan to examine Andrie Yunus by the TNI’s Puspom. He assessed that Andrie has the right to refuse such an examination. According to Usman, the military court does not represent the interests of the victim in this case. He also suggested that the TNI’s Puspom should first seek clarification from the Supreme Court regarding the judicial mechanism to be used. “So I think the Puspom should write to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to obtain clarity first on whether the military justice process is indeed the way to handle Andrie’s case or vice versa, the civilian court,” Usman added. “At present, we can report to the leadership that the matter has been handed over to the TNI’s Puspom,” said the Director of General Criminal Investigation of the Metro Jaya Police, Commissioner Iman Imanuddin, during a meeting with DPR Commission III at the DPR Building, Senayan, Jakarta, on Tuesday. Iman conveyed this when asked by the Chairman of DPR Commission III, Habiburokhman, for an update on the handling of the case. He explained that investigations have been conducted since the report was received by the police. “Allow us to provide an update on the results of the investigation we have carried out regarding a legal incident that occurred and affected Brother Andrie Yunus,” said Iman. “After receiving the report, we then conducted an investigation. And from the results of that investigation, after we found facts from the investigation results. That is what we report, leadership,” he continued.