Febrie's Pretrial: Search Warrant for Sentul House Under Scrutiny
The search warrant for the Sentul house belonging to former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) Febrie Adriansyah came under scrutiny during a pretrial hearing.
An expert witness presented by Febrie’s legal team, M Arif Setiawan, a criminal law expert from the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII), assessed that a search is invalid if it is conducted outside the location permitted by the court.
According to Arif, there was an error in the process of issuing the search warrant if two different letters were submitted by investigators to different courts.
“There must have been an administrative error in how the permit could be issued, while the request was for the Polda Metro Jaya jurisdiction,” he said during the continuation of the pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday (20/8).
Therefore, Arif stated that the search could not be considered lawful because it was carried out based on an incorrect request letter.
“According to the expert, this is invalid. Because it was based on an incorrect request letter, and the ruling did not match what was requested,” he said.
Consequently, Arif viewed the search conducted by investigators as also being invalid. Thus, he said, the items seized became invalid and could not be used as evidence.
“If it is followed up later by taking over authority over an object, seizing it for example, and the seizure permit is the same as this, then the seizure is also invalid. If the seizure is invalid, it also cannot be used as evidence,” he said.
Previously, National Police Headquarters asserted that the entire series of search and seizure activities carried out at the Sentul house belonging to former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah complied with regulations.
This was conveyed by the Head of the Legal Aid Bureau at National Police Headquarters, Brigadier General Veris Septriansyah, on the sidelines of the pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday (20/8).
Veris said that this provision was also affirmed by the expert witness presented by Febrie’s side. In the hearing, he said, the expert in question agreed with the seizure and search activities.
“First, regarding the seizure and search. As long as the form of the search and seizure has relevance to the actions of the applicant, it is lawful. It may be carried out,” he said.
On the other hand, Veris stated that all actions by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Corps at National Police Headquarters and Polda Metro Jaya also complied with the rules set out in Law Number 20 of 2025 concerning the Criminal Code.