Ferry Irwandi Criticises Kejagung, Expert: Potential for Legal Misconception

Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Indonesia (UI), Parulian Aritonang, stated that some observers or influencers discuss legal cases solely based on news data. “They do not know the actual process by the prosecutors or investigators, which is also confidential until revealed in court,” said Parulian. This was conveyed by Parulian in response to the viral video of influencer Ferry Irwandi. In the video, Ferry builds a narrative attacking the Kejaksaan Agung (Kejagung) investigators for allegedly being wrong in processing the criminal case of defendant Ibrahim Arief. Parulian said that opinion formation outside the court is not legal fact. According to him, the legal facts considered by the judge are only those in the court process. “The defendant and the public prosecutor are given the opportunity to present legal facts and evidence, and the opportunity to refute in court; what is said outside the court is not legal fact,” he explained. He revealed that ethically, leading facts could result in incorrect legal analysis, or there is a high likelihood of misperception or wrong analysis from incorrect facts. “Opinion formation that leads to defence should only be done in front of the court, not by leading opinions through news,” he stated. According to Parulian, if this public opinion leading is allowed to continue, there is potential for the Fallacy of law, or in Indonesian, sesat pikir hukum. He said there would be errors in legal reasoning or arguments that make conclusions invalid, misleading, or illogical. “This is a flaw in legal logic where the steps of drawing conclusions do not align with the correct logical principles,” he explained. He emphasised that true legal facts are those presented in court. “And sometimes now judges take facts from outside the court from news or narrators outside the court, not expert witnesses,” he revealed.