Bali student jailed for insulting Susilo

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.