Bintang wins legal battle over travel ban
Bintang wins legal battle over travel ban
JAKARTA (JP): Controversial politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas
won yesterday his legal battle against Attorney General Singgih
for slapping an overseas travel ban on him last April.
The Jakarta State Administrative Court ruled that the attorney
general's decree prohibiting Bintang from traveling abroad, was
"unlawful".
The court ordered that the decree be revoked.
Sudarto Radyo Suwarno, the presiding judge, said the attorney
general was wrong in issuing the travel ban.
"The attorney general failed to check the plaintiff's status
before issuing the overseas travel ban," he said.
The travel ban was imposed because Bintang at the time was
wanted for questioning in connection with allegations of slander
against President Soeharto. The slander trial is currently being
tried at the Central Jakarta District Court.
Sudarto noted that when the travel ban was imposed, Bintang
was not a yet suspect, and therefore the government had no right
to prevent him from leaving the country.
The judge also faulted the Attorney General's Office for
failing to inform Bintang of the travel ban. Bintang was only
informed five days after it was issued.
The court, however, rejected Bintang's request for Rp 5
million ($2,170) in compensation.
Because of the ban, Bintang was prevented from attending his
daughter's graduation in the United States in May.
The victory brought the score of Bintang versus the
authorities to one each. A third court battle, one filed by the
government for Bintang's alleged slander against the President,
is still going on.
Last week, he lost the first court case, a lawsuit he filed
with the Jakarta Administrative Court against President Soeharto
for removing him from the House of Representatives. The court
ruled that it had no authority to question a presidential decree.
Bintang and his lawyers yesterday were not all that happy with
the court's ruling, fearing that it has not precluded the chance
of the government issuing another travel ban as soon as the
current one is lifted.
Despite winning the case, they said they are considering an
appeal.
"The attorney general could easily issue another travel ban
because I am now a defendant in another case," Bintang said.
Bintang was accompanied yesterday by Amartiwi Saleh, Bambang
Widjojanto and Jonly Joihin of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Foundation, while the attorney general was represented by Ibrahim
Lacony, Irdan Dahlan and Sri Hartoyi Waluyo.
Irdan Dahlan said the government is also considering an
appeal. "The plaintiff's grounds for filing the lawsuit was
incorrect," he told reporters. (imn)