Amsal's Testimony in Parliament Leads to Examination of Karo District Prosecutor's Head

The issue of alleged suppression of the defendant in the village fund corruption case, Amsal Sitepu, is heating up and implicating internal prosecutorial affairs. The North Sumatra High Prosecutor’s Office has now intervened by directly examining two officials at the Karo District Prosecutor’s Office. They are the Head of the Karo District Prosecutor’s Office, Danke Rajagukguk, and the Head of Special Crimes Section, Reinhard Harve Sembiring. This examination follows reports of attempts to silence Amsal while he was in detention. Head of the North Sumatra High Prosecutor’s Office, Harli Siregar, emphasised that they are not ignoring the circulating issues and are immediately conducting an investigation. “There was a complaint about attempts to silence the defendant, so we’re checking if it’s true,” he stated on Wednesday, 1 April 2026. According to Harli, the ongoing examination is still in the clarification stage. He stressed that this step is not about tampering with the main case against Amsal, but focuses on alleged actions outside the legal process. “It’s being clarified, but not about the substance of the case,” he said. Previously reported, Amsal Christy Sitepu, a videographer from Karo Regency, claimed to have received direct intimidation from a prosecutor during the legal process. Amsal is accused of inflating the budget for producing videos for 20 villages in Karo. Prosecutors and auditors assessed that Amsal had exaggerated the budget for several of his services, such as ideas, editing, and others. Amsal claimed he was given a box of brownies containing a message to not publicise too much content on social media. “In the legal process I’m currently undergoing, I once received direct intimidation from a prosecutor who gave me a box of chocolate brownies, with a message. He spoke directly to me in the detention centre, ‘Just follow the flow. Don’t make a fuss, close those contents,’” Amsal said during a limited meeting with Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives on Monday, 30 March 2026. However, Amsal rejected the prosecutor’s ‘dirty’ actions. He hopes that no more young people in Indonesia will face intimidation or criminalisation. “Let me be the only creative economy worker who is criminalised and intimidated. Let me be the last leader. I must convey this. This is the voice of all of us young people who dare to keep speaking out despite the pressure,” he asserted.