Constitutional Scholars Submit Amicus Curiae Brief in Delpedro Case
A group of law lecturers and constitutional and administrative law practitioners organised under the Constitutional and Administrative Law Society (CALS) have submitted a written amicus curiae brief in the case involving Delpedro Marhaen and others, concerning allegations of incitement related to demonstrations on 25-30 August 2025.
The amicus curiae document was presented directly to the judge panel at the Jakarta Central District Court (PN Jakarta Pusat) on Monday (2 March).
“I am Bivitri Susanti, as Head of the Presidium of the Constitutional and Administrative Law Society, a collective of law lecturers and constitutional and administrative law practitioners, representing 19 people providing an amicus curiae or friends of the court document,” said Bivitri at the Jakarta Central District Court.
She stated that in the document, her group highlighted the criminalisation of the defendants in the alleged incitement case.
Bivitri said the actions of the defendants in expressing their views previously constituted a constitutional right.
“We as law lecturers and constitutional and administrative law practitioners are very aware, and because of that have a moral basis to convey to the Judge that speaking is indeed a constitutional right. What is happening to them today, they are only four out of thousands of others doing the same, being criminalised,” she said.
According to her, the defendants are also experiencing weaponisation of law, where the law is being used for purposes of silencing.
“The chilling effect of this. So one of the terms we used in the document is indeed chilling effect. How with intent they, so to speak, this is malicious prosecution. So prosecution for evil purposes essentially. This is deliberate so that young people do not speak and criticise those in power,” she said.
Earlier in this case, prosecutors sought a two-year prison sentence for Delpedro Marhaen, Executive Director of the Lokataru Foundation.
Similar demands were made by prosecutors against three other defendants: Muzaffar Salim, a Lokataru Foundation staff member and manager of the Instagram account Blok Politik Pelajar; Syahdan Husein, administrator of @gejayanmemanggil; and Khariq Anhar, a Riau University student and administrator of the Aliansi Mahasiswa Menggugat.
According to prosecutors, the defendants have been proven to have carried out electronic incitement related to the 25-30 August 2025 demonstrations which resulted in unrest causing damage to public facilities and injury to officers, as stipulated in the third charge under Article 246 of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code (KUHP) in conjunction with Article 20 letter c KUHP.
“(Seeking the judge panel to impose a sentence on Defendant I Delpedro Marhaen, Defendant II Muzaffar Salim, Defendant III Syahdan Husein, and Defendant IV Khariq Anhar with a prison sentence of 2 years reduced by the time the defendants have spent in detention,” the prosecutor said when reading the criminal sentence demand at the Jakarta Central District Court on Friday (27 February).