Delpedro and Colleagues Acquitted; Yusril Confirms Verdict as Final

Jakarta — Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra has confirmed that the acquittal verdicts for Delpedro Marhaen, Executive Director of Lokataru Foundation, and his co-defendants are final. He explained that under the new Article 299 of the Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), no prosecutorial remedy can be filed against an acquittal (vrijspraak) or discharge (ontslag), including a cassation to the Supreme Court (MA). ‘So there can be no cassation filed any longer because it ends here and no further legal channels are available,’ Yusril said in a video statement confirmed in Jakarta on Saturday, 7 March 2026. He noted that under the old KUHAP, such provisions existed, but in practice prosecutors created a theory that acquittals could be divided into ‘pure’ and ‘not pure’. If the acquittal was not pure, he said, prosecutors could appeal. However, the issue, he continued, is that the criteria for ‘pure’ or not were not clear, and such practices caused a lot of chaos in law enforcement. In addition to Delpedro, three other defendants were acquitted: Lokataru staff Muzaffar Salim; Gejayan Memanggil admin Syahdan Husein; and admin Khariq Anhar of Aliansi Mahasiswa Penggugat. The four defendants were acquitted after being found not guilty of inciting charges in the August 2025 demonstration that ended in riot. In court, prosecutors were deemed unable to present evidence of manipulation, fabrication, or fabrication of facts by the defendants. Accordingly, the Bench ordered prosecutors to restore the rights of the defendants in terms of capacity, position, dignity and honour. Previously, the four defendants had been charged with two years in prison for allegedly, beyond reasonable doubt, being guilty of inciting others publicly, by voice or writing, to commit criminal acts, or to incite others to oppose the authorities with violence.