Attorney General's Office Secures Karo District Attorney and Team, DPR: Punishment Must Be Imposed

Member of the Indonesian House of Representatives’ Commission III, Rudianto Lallo, has commended the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) for securing the Head of the Karo District Prosecutor’s Office (Kajari Karo) along with his team of prosecutors, describing it as a progressive step in safeguarding the institution’s integrity. This action serves as a stern warning to all regional prosecutors against misusing their authority in handling cases.

Rudianto emphasised that the incident involving videographer Amsal Sitepu should serve as a valuable lesson for the Adhyaksa Corps to ensure that personnel at the grassroots level operate professionally.

“Yes, it is a valuable lesson for the Attorney General’s Office institution to ensure that field personnel, at the Kajari level and below, truly maintain their integrity. No more seeking out cases or fabricating errors, resulting in cases that should not be brought to trial being elevated. Ultimately, it is the Prosecutor’s Office institution that gets tarnished,” said Rudianto in Jakarta on Monday (6/4/2026).

This politician from the NasDem Party Faction appreciated the Attorney General’s efforts in not tolerating any suspected procedural deviations. According to him, the material and immaterial losses suffered by the victim due to the arbitrariness of rogue elements must be compensated with commensurate sanctions.

“The Attorney General’s Office’s step in holding the Kajari Karo and his team accountable for such behaviour is, in my view, a progressive move. It is progressive because there must be punishment. They cannot be let off just like that; there must be punishment because there are material and immaterial losses suffered by the victim,” he stressed.

Rudianto added that a thorough examination is necessary to uncover whether there are ethical or criminal violations in the legal process. The securing of the rogue prosecutors is seen as part of the check and balance mechanism to control law enforcement apparatus at the regional level.

“Thus, when the Attorney General’s Office secures the Kajari and team parties, I think it is a progressive step as part of the Attorney General’s oversight of rogue prosecutors below who often engage in abuse of power, practices of misusing authority, and arbitrariness towards the people,” Rudianto continued.

Furthermore, this legislator from South Sulawesi urged that the results of the examination of Kajari Karo and his team be announced transparently to the public. This is important so that public trust in law enforcement can be restored and serve as an answer to existing concerns.

“Yes, the mechanism must certainly involve a transparent process, openly, so that the public feels this is the answer. Yes, this is actually not just about the Karo Prosecutor’s Office, I think, but the whole of Indonesia,” he stated.

He hopes this incident will have a deterrent effect nationally, so that no rogue prosecutors dare to “play around” with cases anymore.

“With this incident, colleagues in the Prosecutor’s Office will surely be more cautious, no longer playing around with cases, trying to manipulate cases, and so on. This is the wisdom behind this incident. Cases handled must truly have motives with broad impact,” Rudianto concluded.

Previously, the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) moved to secure the Head of the Karo District Prosecutor’s Office (Kajari Karo), Dante Rajagukguk, along with the Head of the Criminal Investigation Section (Kasi Pidsus) and two Deputy Heads of Subsections who handled the case of videographer Amsal Sitepu. This step was taken to conduct a comprehensive clarification regarding allegations of unprofessionalism in handling the case.

The Head of the Legal Information Centre (Kapuspenkum) of the Attorney General’s Office, Anang Supriatna, confirmed that the withdrawal of these prosecutors was carried out by the Attorney General’s Intelligence Team on Saturday night (4/3/2026).

“What is clear is that last Saturday night, the individuals concerned, including Kajari Karo, Kasi Pidsus, and the two Deputy Heads of Subsections handling the case—those prosecutors have been secured and withdrawn by the Attorney General’s Intelligence Team,” Anang said in Jakarta on Monday (6/4/2026).

Anang explained that an internal examination had previously been conducted by the North Sumatra Attorney General’s Office. However, the Attorney General’s leadership decided to take over the examination process to ensure more objective and transparent results, given the uproar caused by this case.

“What is clear is this is a response from the leadership regarding the handling of a case that has an impact like this—Amsal Sitepu’s case is like what. So at that time, an examination was also being conducted at the North Sumatra Attorney General’s Office, but we took it over directly by the Attorney General’s team to make it more objective. What is clear is that we prioritise the principle of caution and the presumption of innocence,” Anang stated.