Chief editor named suspect in libel case
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.