Court rejects journalists' suit against Attorney General's Office

JAKARTA (JP): A judge at the South Jakarta District Court rejected on Monday a civil lawsuit by three journalists, which challenged a decision by the Attorney General's Office to prohibit them from covering the attorney general's activities from June 8 until June 10 last year.

"The lawsuit failed to specify the defendants," said presiding judge T.H.S. Pardede in a hearing at the district court.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs only named the Attorney General's Office as the defendant.

"It is not clear whether the plaintiffs are suing the former or the incumbent attorney general.

"The lawsuit should have named Andi M. Ghalib, who was the attorney general when the ban was issued, as the defendant in the case," he said at the hearing which was observed by scores of journalists.

Ghalib was replaced by acting attorney general Ismudjoko on June 18 for allegedly receiving bribes from businessmen under investigation for banking law violations.

Two of the three plaintiffs were present in the courtroom. They were Roy Pakpahan of the former Suara Bangsa daily and Driantama of the private RCTI television station. The third journalist, who was absent at the hearing, is Bambang Wahyu of Kompas.

Pardede said the plaintiffs failed to declare the names of the office's executives that should be held responsible for the case.

"The lawsuit did not clearly mention those executives' names. It will cause confusion as to which parties should be held responsible for the payment of compensation," he said.

Instead of demanding that their good names be rehabilitated through advertisements in five national newspapers, the three also demanded Rp 1 billion (about US$142,875) each for nonmaterial losses.

The journalists also demanded the defendant pay another Rp 10 million to cover their legal costs.

Apong Herlina and Waskito Adiribowo from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) represented the plaintiffs during the hearing, while lawyer Warih Sadono represented the Attorney General's Office.

The ban on the three journalists was authorized by head of general affairs at the Attorney General's Office, Zainuddin Jahisa, on June 8 last year.

Zainuddin said in the decree that the three journalists had been rude to then attorney general Andi M. Ghalib during a media conference at the office, shortly after the installment of Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Ramelan on May 26.

Roy Pakpahan told journalists after the hearing that they did not have any plans to file an appeal at the Jakarta High Court over the district court's verdict.

"We are very tired following the court's long proceedings. If we file an appeal, we'll have to deal with a long prosecution again," Roy said.

Earlier, Apong told the hearing shortly after the presiding judge announced the verdict that the plaintiffs were considering filing an appeal. (asa)