Court rejects journalists' suit against Attorney General's Office
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)