Case should be concluded once acquittal verdict is handed down, says expert

Criminal law expert from Trisakti University, Albert Aries, has stated that a case should be considered concluded once an acquittal verdict has been handed down by a panel of judges at the court of first instance. He noted that this principle has been affirmed in the new Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), which will come into effect in 2026. “The practice of public prosecutors (JPU) still filing cassation appeals against acquittals is inappropriate and violates the law,” Albert said in a statement received in Jakarta on Tuesday. He explained that when a defendant has been acquitted because the charges were not proven, the case should be declared finished to guarantee legal certainty and protect the defendant’s rights. However, in practice, he noted that prosecutors continue to file cassation appeals against several pure acquittals. He cited several cases where prosecutors filed cassation appeals, including the case of Delpedro Marhaen and associates at the Central Jakarta District Court in 2026, the Sritex case involving eight bankers who were acquitted by the Semarang Corruption Court in Central Java in 2026, and the obstruction of investigation case involving Junaedi Saibih, Tian Bahtiar, and Ahmad Mudzaki at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court in 2026. “The latest case is the cassation appeal against the acquittal of doctor Ratna Setia Asih,” he said. On 20 July 2026, Albert revealed that in case Number 295/Pid.Sus/2025/PN Pgp, the Panel of Judges at the Pangkal Pinang District Court declared that Dr. Ratna Setia Asih was not legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing the criminal act as charged under Article 440 paragraph (2) of Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health. The panel of judges subsequently acquitted Ratna of all charges brought by the public prosecutor. Therefore, Albert stated that litigants, including the public prosecutor, cannot file a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court if the court of first instance or the appellate court has acquitted the defendant of all charges. In agreement, Professor Mudzakkir, a Criminal Law Professor at the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) Yogyakarta, conveyed that in principle, there should be no cassation legal remedy against an acquittal because the judge has declared the charges unproven based on the evidentiary process. He stated that an acquittal is a defendant’s right that must be respected, and the state should not prolong the legal process through cassation. According to him, the police and prosecutors have been given ample time to gather evidence before a case is brought to trial. If, after all evidence has been tested in court, the charges are not proven, he continued, the legal process should end. “In the court process, the suspect’s right is only a brief process. At most, they are given three sessions and it is finished; that is what makes legal processes unfair,” said Prof. Mudzakkir. He therefore expressed hope that all criminal cases must follow the provisions of the KUHAP as the general procedural law.