Drug dealing police officer escapes death penalty
Drug dealing police officer escapes death penalty
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The Medan District Court in North Sumatra province sentenced on
Thursday a police officer found guilty of drug dealing to eight
years in prison and fined him Rp 50 million.
The jail term appeared lenient as prosecutors had demanded
that Adj. Comr. Bakhtiar Sitinjak be sentenced to death.
Presiding Judge Anwar Zahri told the court that the light
sentence had been handed down as the charge that the defendant
was linked to a national drug trafficking network had not been
proved.
In imposing the sentence, the judges also took into
consideration the fact that Bakhtiar had served as a police
officer for 25 years, Anwar added.
He said the defendant had been proven guilty of violating
Article 59 (1c) of Law No. 5/1997 on psychotropic substances as
he illegally consumed and sold shabu-shabu (crystal amphetamine).
"As a member of the National Police, the defendant should have
been proactive in cracking down on drugs. But on the contrary, he
acted as a drug dealer," the presiding judge said.
Bakhtiar was arrested by police on Dec. 18 last year at 7 a.m.
at the Pirngadi General Hospital, Medan, while undergoing medical
treatment.
The arrest followed the questioning of another drug suspect,
Zulifkar alias Zulif, who was arrested in possession of three
ounces of shabu-shabu.
Zulifkar confessed to police investigators that he had bought
the drugs for Rp 20 million from Bakhtiar, who claimed to have
obtained them from Ahwat, a resident of Jakarta.
The three ounces were part of around 1.5 kilograms that
Bakhtiar had received from Ahwat, who remains at large, the
police said.
After hearing the sentence, Bakhtiar said he was leaving it up
to his lawyers to decide on an appeal.
Neril Abdi, one of the defendant's lawyers, told The Jakarta
Post that his client would appeal against the verdict.
He claimed that Bakhtiar's conviction was not merited by the
evidence. "The prosecution could not prove how my client obtained
the shabu-shabu from Zulifkar," Neril claimed.
Meanwhile, state prosecutor Mardiana Sianturi said she was
considering lodging an appeal against the lenient sentence
imposed on the errant officer.