DPR's Commission III Urges Judges to Consider Acquitting Amsal Sitepu
Indonesia’s House of Representatives Commission III has reminded law enforcement authorities in the case of Mr Amsal Christy Sitepu to prioritise substantive justice over mere formalistic legal certainty.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) has urged the panel of judges to consider delivering an acquittal or a light sentence to the videographer who is the defendant in a village project in Karo Regency, North Sumatra, namely Amsal Christy Sitepu.
Chairman of Commission III DPR RI, Habiburokhman, stated that the panel of judges needs to consider the facts of the trial and adhere to legal values as well as the sense of justice prevalent in society. For now, Commission III DPR RI has also agreed to act as guarantor for Amsal in applying for detention suspension.
“Commission III DPR RI reminds that in the case of Mr Amsal Christy Sitepu, law enforcement authorities should prioritise substantive justice over mere formalistic legal certainty,” said Habiburokhman at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Monday.
According to him, the legal process must prioritise Article 53 paragraph 2 of the new Criminal Code (KUHP), where law enforcement is obliged to prioritise justice if there is a conflict in legal certainty.
Substantively, according to him, the creative work of a videographer does not have a fixed price, so it cannot be said that there was inflation or mark-up from a standard price.
He emphasised that the works of creative economy actors, from the initial creative idea or concept, editing work, video cutting, voice filling or dubbing, cannot be unilaterally valued at Rp0.
Nevertheless, he stated that Commission III DPR RI strongly supports the eradication of corruption and reminds that the priority of corruption eradication is not merely fulfilling targets by arbitrarily imprisoning people, but maximising the recovery of state financial losses.
“In the case of Mr Amsal Christy Sitepu with a state financial loss value of Rp202 million, the objective of law enforcement will be better achieved if the recovery of state financial losses is maximised from the outset,” he said.
To that end, he requested that law enforcement authorities consider court decisions that do not become counterproductive precedents against the climate of the creative industry in Indonesia due to criminal threats or over-criminalisation with a retributive justice orientation and imprisonment.