Bali student jailed for insulting Susilo

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar

In what prodemocracy activists are describing as a blow to freedom of expression, a court here jailed a university student on Friday for insulting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

I Wayan "Gendo" Suardana, a law student at Udayana University in Denpasar, Bali, was sentenced to six months in prison, minus time already served.

Wayan will only be behind bars for 22 days because he has been detained since Jan. 3.

The Denpasar District Court found the student guilty of insulting the President by setting fire to a picture of Susilo during a protest late last year against the government's plan to raise fuel prices.

When the verdict was announced, about 70 friends and family of Wayan charged toward the judges' bench, forcing police officers to intervene to calm the courtroom.

The panel of judges and prosecutors were escorted out of the courtroom without officially wrapping up the proceedings.

Wayan demanded the judges return and officially close the trial by giving him an opportunity to respond to the verdict.

Agus Samijaya, Wayan's lawyer, said his client's failure to be given the opportunity to respond to the verdict meant the trial was legally flawed. He demanded another hearing be held.

Responding to the verdict, Agus said the judges failed to take into consideration his client's plea, as well as the testimony of witnesses and linguistic experts who testified for the defendant.

The judges were also wrong in presenting the President as a victim during the trial, the lawyer said.

"Also, many statements from witnesses that were not presented during the trial were used by the court in considering its decision. This is a manipulation of statements," he said.

Agus said he would visit his client on Saturday to discuss what legal action they would take in response to the verdict.

Over the years, numerous people have been jailed for insulting the president, vice president or other high state officials. This was especially common under authoritarian ruler Soeharto and was designed at quieting government critics.

During the Megawati Soekarnoputri administration, several students were jailed for burning pictures of her.

Democracy and human rights activist Ifdhal Kasim said on Friday any articles in the Criminal Code on insulting government officials should be scrapped. He said such articles violated the principle of human rights enshrined in the Constitution.

"Such articles were enacted during the colonial era to put government officials in sacred positions and to keep them from public criticism. These ideas are no longer relevant in the democratic era," he said.

Ifdhal, the director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, said most democratic countries have moved to decriminalize public criticism, including criticism of government officials and state symbols.

"They only criminalize public criticism of or attacks on the state as a state itself, not state officials or state symbols. Their regulations are written to prevent manipulation and multiple interpretations by state officials," said Ifdhal.