Andrie Yunus's Legal Team Responds to Judge Raising 'Special Operation' in Trial: Theatrics

Andrie Yunus’s lawyer, M Isnur, has responded to the proceedings at the Jakarta Military Court involving Pabandya D 31 Pampers Dit B Bais TNI, Lieutenant Colonel Chk Alwi Hakim Nasution, as a witness in the case of the acid attack on KontraS activist Andrie Yunus. Isnur considers the judge’s questions about a special operation or orders behind the acid attack as theatrics.

“Yes, but it’s actually strange, isn’t it? This is asking, but in rooms that are the subject matter not revealed by the investigators, yes, and like an audit. So actually, the judge’s questions, in my opinion, are theatrics,” said Isnur when contacted on Thursday (7/5/2026).

Isnur highlighted that the question came from a judge who is also military, even the superior of the witness. According to him, the judge’s question will not find an answer.

“Because how could it be revealed in a room where he is examined by his superior, right? The auditor is also military. So for me, it’s a question that comes out but won’t find a strong enough answer because from the beginning this was only brought by four people (the acid attack defendants),” he said.

Isnur also believes that no one will uncover it even if it is indeed a special operation. He said the judge wants to appear good by pressing on the special operation matter.

“So especially if they are operations, especially if they are intelligence, they won’t uncover it like that. So the courtroom in the context of the question seems like he is good, but actually it won’t be answered honestly, and this also indicates there is a serious problem in the TNI body where people can be so wild in carrying out operations,” he stated.

In addition, he also highlighted that the trial judge is also giving opinions. He assessed that the trial judge is not seeking to uncover the truth.

“What’s worse, the judge has opinions, the judge is steering his opinion when, for example, saying ‘why is the attack so amateur, so stupid’. Clearly we see the judge there is not in the position of a judge digging for the truth, a judge who is based on uncovering something, but a judge who is already like the superior of the defendants,” he explained.

Judge Probes ‘Special Operation’

As known, the military prosecutor presented Pabandya D 31 Pampers Dit B Bais TNI, Lieutenant Colonel Chk Alwi Hakim Nasution, as a witness in the acid attack case against KontraS activist Andrie Yunus. The judge delved into whether there was a special operation or orders behind the acid attack.

The trial was held at the Jakarta Military Court on Wednesday (6/5). The four defendants in this case are defendant I Sergeant Two Edi Sudarko, defendant II First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi, defendant III Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetyo, and defendant IV First Lieutenant Sami Lakka.

Initially, Alwi explained the burn injuries turning black experienced by Edi and Budhi. Alwi was the personnel who conducted the initial investigation of the two defendants on 17 March.

“We kept asking, for Defendant I we suspected, we asked him to open his shirt and we saw there was indeed a black burn on the right chest. For Defendant II, we only saw on the right hand,” said Alwi.

The judge continued to ask what the defendants’ confessions were during the initial investigation. Alwi said the defendants admitted to throwing acid at Andrie because they were annoyed with the interruption incident at the meeting about the TNI Bill at the Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta, which occurred in 2025.

“What is their business with Andrie Yunus? What is their business with the TNI Bill? What is their business with the judicial review submission to the Constitutional Court? What is the correlation for them to do that? They are only Denma soldiers,” asked the judge.

“The confession to us was because they were heartbroken seeing Andrie Yunus’s actions when forcing entry into the closed meeting, so the defendants felt heartbroken,” answered Alwi.

The judge then asked if there was an order for the defendants to carry out the acid attack. The judge also asked if there was a special operation behind the acid attack on Andrie Yunus.

“That’s not what I mean. They have no connection with AY. They didn’t know him initially, only knew from TV, just like us. Never knew, only know from TV. Why suddenly do such an action. Did you investigate whether this was indeed an order?” asked the judge.

“No, Your Honour,” answered Alwi.

“Is it possible a special operation?” asked the judge.

“To our knowledge, to our investigation, there is none. That the defendants only felt humiliated, hurt by Andrie Yunus. Nothing else,” answered Alwi.