Attorney General's Office respects DPR's call for Amsal Sitepu to receive an acquittal

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Attorney General’s Office respects the decision of the House of Representatives’ Commission III to urge the panel of judges to consider imposing an acquittal or lenient sentence on Amsal Christy Sitepu, a videographer who is the defendant in the alleged budget inflation case.

“We respect it, and indeed the function of the DPR is to oversee so that law enforcement runs in accordance with applicable legal provisions and also to fulfil the sense of justice in society,” said the Head of the Attorney General’s Office’s Legal Information Centre, Anang Supriatna, in Jakarta on Monday.

Regarding the request, he said that the Attorney General’s Office would continue to follow the course of the legal process.

“Please go ahead, there is a legal mechanism to follow. One of them was the prosecution yesterday, which means next is the plea from the defendant and legal counsel. Just present it there as it is, of course it will then be considered by the panel of judges who decide,” he stated.

On Monday, the House of Representatives’ Commission III called for the panel of judges to consider imposing an acquittal or lenient sentence during a hearing at the parliamentary complex in Senayan, Jakarta.

The Chairman of Commission III of the House of Representatives, Habiburokhman, said that the panel of judges needs to consider the facts of the trial and follow the values of law and the sense of justice that lives in society.

“Commission III of the House of Representatives reminds that in the case of Mr Amsal Christi Sitepu, law enforcers should prioritise substantive justice over mere formalistic legal certainty,” he said.

Substantively, according to him, the creative work of a videographer does not have a certain fixed price, so it cannot be said that there was inflation or markup from a fixed price.

He emphasised that the works of creative economy actors, starting from the initial creative idea or concept, editing work, video cutting, voice filling or dubbing, cannot be unilaterally valued at Rp0.

Nevertheless, he said that Commission III of the House of Representatives strongly supports the eradication of corruption and reminds that the priority of anti-corruption efforts is not merely to meet targets by imprisoning people arbitrarily, but to maximise the recovery of state financial losses.

Previously, Amsal Sitepu was demanded a two-year prison sentence by the prosecutor in the alleged corruption case of the village profile video production project in Karo Regency, North Sumatra.

The prosecutor also demanded a fine of Rp50 million, with the provision that if not paid, it would be replaced with three months’ imprisonment.