Court exonerates rector of sexual harassment

Court exonerates rector of sexual harassment

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta District Court has exonerated
Ali Moechtar Hoetasoehoet, the rector of a private education
institution, from all charges of sexual harassment, due to
inadequate evidence.

"The court finds the defendant not guilty and has decided to
acquit him of all the charges," presiding judge Doris A. Taulo
said yesterday.

The presiding judge said that based on principles set forth in
the Criminal Code Procedures, a judge cannot hand down a verdict
without hearing the testimony of at least two different
witnesses.

"In this case, the panel of judges agrees that, based on
evidence, not a single person witnessed any of the alleged
actions," Doris said.

The judge added that the other factor which influenced the
verdict was the inconsistency of the testimony given by the 16
witnesses presented by the prosecutor. "They all gave conflicting
testimonies."

During the trial, prosecutor Uri Hasan Basri requested that
the judge find Hoetasoehoet guilty and sentence him to one year
in jail.

Hoetasoehoet is rector of the Institute of Social and Mass
Communication (IISIP) in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta. He helped
established the institute in 1953.

He was arraigned in November 1993 when two female staffers,
Dyah Bintarini, one of the institute's lecturers, and Hanny Ankie
Peggy Mokoginta, the institute's chief librarian, reported to the
police that they had been sexually harassed by Hutasoehoet.

The sexual harassment allegedly occurred during the period of
March 1987 to July 1991. Dyah resigned from the institute on
April 30, 1992.

The rector was also charged with similar behavior towards
Hanny, who was reportedly accosted sexually in her rented room
and in various rooms at the institute 15 times from May 1984 to
June 1991.

Hoetasoehoet's lawyer, Petrus Bala Pattyona of the Maruli
Simorangkir law firm, said that the charges brought forth in the
trial were orchestrated by outside parties, including a
nationally known media magnate, to enable them to take over the
institute.

Responding to Judge Doris' verdict, the prosecutor Uri said
that he will use the 14 days allocated him under the law to
decide whether or not he will file an appeal to the Supreme
Court.

He said that he will study the verdict thoroughly in efforts
to find a stronger legal argument to back up the charges.

Meanwhile, lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, who was
representing Dyah and Hanny before the court sessions started,
said that the verdict reflected the male chauvinism rampant in
the existing legal system.

Nursyahbani, who also heads a non-governmental organization
called Women's Solidarity for Human Rights, said that the Supreme
Court should not use the existing legal principle of evidence
when re-examining the case.

"Perhaps such a principle is suitable for other crimes, but
for this case we should use another system of legal
verification," she said. (03)