Chief editor named suspect in libel case
Yemris Fointuna and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Kupang/Padang
Pos Kupang chief editor Dion DB Putera has been named a suspect in a defamation case involving a former East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) deputy police deputy chief, while a West Sumatra councillor is facing a three-month jail term for allegedly assaulting a journalist.
"It's true that Dion DB Putera has been charged as a suspect, and will soon be prosecuted," the NTT Police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Niko Eko Riwayanto said in the provincial capital of Kupang on Thursday.
He said the chief editor of the local daily, a subsidiary of the Kompas Group, was accused of defaming former NTT Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Arthur Damanik.
The case surfaced after Pos Kupang ran an article in its June 23, 2004 edition alleging the involvement of the then number two officer in NTT Police Headquarters, who was identified only by the initials AD, in the smuggling of over 300 tons of sugar into the province from East Timor.
The report, according to Damanik, had tarnished his reputation, and so he had decided to file a complaint.
Separately on Thursday, NTT Police chief Brig. Gen. Edward Aritonang said he was striving to arrange a meeting between Damanik and Dion in order to resolve the libel dispute amicably.
However, he said he had yet to receive a response from the two sides.
"We hope the two sides will meet so as to find an optimum solution to their dispute without having to go to court," the local police chief said.
Dion said he respected the ongoing legal process by the police, including the decision to declare him a suspect.
"It's no problem if the provincial police name me as a suspect," he said, adding that he was ready to face Damanik in court.
Meanwhile in Padang, prosecutors recommended on Thursday that former West Sumatra legislative council member Syahril BB, 54, be sentenced to three months in prison with a one-year probation period.
Syahril was charged with assaulting Media Indonesia/Metro TV reporter Bonar Harahap, 27, on May 1, 2004, in a courtroom in the Padang District Court.
At the time, the defendant slapped Bonar on the forehead and pushed him as the victim was performing his work, prosecutor Mukhlis said.
Syahril was apparently angry with reports written by Bonar in Media Indonesia and aired on Metro TV on Syahril's trials on corruption and diploma forgery charges between March and April.
The Padang District Court jailed the former councillor for two years for his role in embezzling Rp 4.6 billion (US$511,111) from the West Sumatra budget in 2002. He was also fined Rp 4 million for diploma forgery in a separate trial.
Mukhlis told Thursday's trial in the same court that Syahril was guilty of assault under Article 351 (1) of the Criminal Code.
Among the compounding circumstances in the case was the fact that the defendant had belittled the profession of the victim as a journalist, he said.
However, the prosecutors did not bring charges under the Press Law (No. 40/1999).
During the trial, the defendant had expressed remorse and apologized to the victim, and had been cooperative throughout, all of which were mitigating circumstances, Mukhlis said.