DPR member applauds judge for acquitting Batam seafarer of the death penalty

Jakarta — Member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Nasyirul Falah Amru, has applauded the Batam District Court’s panel of judges for acquitting Sea Dragon crew member Terawa Fandi Ramadhan from charges of the death penalty. He said the panel was precise in examining the public-interest phenomenon surrounding Fandi’s involvement in a narcotics case that implicated him. ‘This should serve as a reference for examining judges handling high-profile cases, so that they truly implement Article 5(1) of Law Number 48 of 2009 on the Judiciary, ensuring that justice can be delivered from the cases to be decided,’ the lawmaker known as Gus Falah said in a statement in Jakarta on Saturday. He noted that in deciding the case, the panel used an ‘evidence-based justice’ approach and strongly applied the contents of Article 5(1) of Law Number 48 Year 2009 on the Judiciary. The article obliges judges to probe, follow, and understand the legal values and the sense of justice existing in society. Thus, Gus Falah said the panel demonstrated sensitivity in the matter, considering public phenomena with full independence, without interference from anyone. He also asserted that Commission III of the DPR is committed to paying close attention to cases that attract public attention. ‘That is important so that justice in society can be transparent and clear, so that every citizen receives justice in accordance with the facts and their actions,’ said the member of the Commission who oversees law, human rights, and security. Earlier, the Batam District Court panel sentenced Fandi to five years in prison in the case of alleged smuggling of methamphetamine with a weight of nearly 2 tonnes. In its verdict, the panel found Fandi proven beyond reasonable doubt to have committed an unlawful conspiracy to commit a crime without the right or against the law, and to have acted as an intermediary in the sale and purchase of a Class 1 narcotic not derived from plants, weighing more than 5 grams as stated in the primary indictment by the public prosecutors. The panel’s sentence was lighter than the prosecutors’ demands from the Batam District Attorney’s Office, which had previously sought the death penalty against six defendants in the case, including Fandi.