Experts demand criminal code procedure changes
Experts demand criminal code procedure changes
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's current criminal code procedures, last updated in 1981, are in need of reform because they are widely open to abuse, a group of legislators and law experts said yesterday.
Leading human right campaigner Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara found receptive ears during a hearing with Commission III of the House of Representatives in his campaign to have the code of procedures reformed.
The legislators concluded that the code should be changed and should include sanctions against those guilty of procedural violations.
They also underlined the need for the new court procedures to adopt regulations stipulated in various UN declarations, including those against injustices, on victims' protection, against power abuse and on law enforcement code of ethics. They said Indonesia should also ratify a UN convention against torture by public authorities.
Abdul Hakim, the chairman of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy, during the hearing gave ample examples of cases when the criminal code procedures were violated by the police and district attorneys during the various cases he and his agency has handled.
In essence, he said the code does not stipulate punishments in cases where law enforcement agencies violate the procedures.
He said in one instance, a person summoned by the police for questioning in relation to the libel charges against politician Sri Bintang Pamungkas complained that the statement that he was asked to sign did not reflect the verbal statement he made to the investigators.
The man has also said he was forced to make statements incriminating the suspect, Abdul Hakim said.
Article 117 of the criminal code procedures stipulates that a suspect's or a witness' testimony is given before the investigators on condition that he/she is free from any kinds of pressure and the investigators write the testimony appropriately.
Abdul Hakim said the way police broke into the office of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in March last year and seized materials from the office to build their case against members of the group violated the criminal code procedures.
"Such procedural violations had occurred and will continue to happen because there are no sanctions against the perpetrators in the criminal code procedures," Hakim said.
Most pre-trial hearings filed by defendants against police and district attorneys for procedural irregularities were defeated in court because of the lack of clarity on the issue in the criminal code procedures. (imn)