Convicted police to walk free
Convicted police to walk free
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced on Wednesday eight
officers from the Central Jakarta Police's riot squad to three
months and 12 days in prison for assaulting student protesters in
February.
However, the convicted officers will walk free as the sentence
is exactly the same as the amount of time they have already spent
in detention. The officers are expected to return to the squad.
The defendants -- first privates Joko Prasetyo and Siswanto,
and second privates Ahmad Juli Nasution, Amin Septadi, Dedi
Yanto, Didik Kuncoro Kusno, Samri Simamora and Teguh Sukamto --
were arrested in February following the assaults.
They have been detained by the prosecutor's office since July.
Prosecutor Jeffri H. said after the trial that he was
considering appealing the verdict.
Prosecutors had asked for four-month prison sentences for the
defendants for violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code on the
excessive use of force.
Reading the verdict, presiding judge Suripto said the witness
testimony and forensic evidence, including the officers' batons
and medical exams of the victims, were sufficient to find the
defendants guilty as charged.
"The defendants are guilty of collectively and overtly using
excessive force against others," he said.
The panel of judges rejected the defendants' argument that
their actions were in accordance with articles 49 and 51 of the
Criminal Code on the unavoidable use of force to uphold the law.
In the incident outside the Supreme Court, student protesters
clashed with police after the court let then House of
Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung walk free on graft
charges.
"The defendants disobeyed orders to practice restraint and not
use violence against the students. Obviously, they did not do
their duty," Suripto said.
The judges, however, took into consideration that the
defendants pled guilty and had never before been convicted of a
crime.
The defendants said they would accept the sentence, as well as
the requirement that they pay a trial fee of Rp 1,000 (11 US
cents) each.