Former BAIS Head Testifies as Military Law Expert in Andrie Yunus Case Trial
The trial took place at the Military Court II-08 in Penggilingan, Cakung, East Jakarta, on Thursday (7 May 2026). The session was presided over by the chief judge, Colonel Chk Fredy Ferdian Isnartanto.
Three expert witnesses were presented by the defendant’s legal counsel: a psychologist from the TNI Psychology Centre, Colonel Arh Agus Syahrudin; forensic psychologist Reza Indragiri Amriel; and former Head of the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), Rear Admiral TNI (Retired) Soleman Ponto.
The three expert witnesses were sworn in before the judge according to their respective religious beliefs. Former BAIS head Ponto was questioned by the defendant’s counsel regarding the intelligence operations system.
“So, according to the expert, what the defendant did—is that included in the category of intelligence operations or not? Based on what the witness has known and seen so far,” said the counsel during the trial.
Soleman B Ponto stated that the actions of the four defendants did not fall under intelligence operations. He viewed the actions carried out by the TNI BAIS members as mere mischief.
“So, if you look at it, this is not an intelligence operation at all. If I were the BAIS head at that time, or now if I were their superior, I would see it as mischief. We would regard it as mischief,” said Soleman.
Soleman opined that if the action were called an intelligence operation, the steps taken by the defendant should not have been known. He stated there was no connection between the defendant’s actions and ‘intelligence operations’ in TNI BAIS.
“Now, secondly, if we look again at the course of events so far, it always tries to link this to it must be an intelligence operation. Impossible. And I explain in this trial. If an intelligence operation is truly carried out as I mentioned earlier, that’s why Andrie would disappear or sublimate. That’s it,” he revealed.
Prosecution
Previously, the military prosecutor charged four TNI soldiers with dousing KontraS activist Andrie Yunus with acid. The military prosecutor said the defendants carried out the action due to annoyance with Andrie.
The prosecution hearing was held at the East Jakarta Military Court on Wednesday (29 April). The four defendants are Defendant I Sergeant Two Edi Sudarko (ES), Defendant II First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi (BHW), Defendant III Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetyo (NDP), and Defendant IV First Lieutenant Sami Lakka (SL).
The prosecutor stated that the defendants learned of Andrie on 16 March 2025 when Andrie entered and interrupted a meeting discussing the revision of the TNI Law held by the DPR at the Fairmont Hotel in South Jakarta. The defendants considered Andrie’s actions as insulting the TNI institution.
“With that incident, the defendants viewed Mr Andrie Yunus as having insulted the TNI institution, even trampling on the TNI institution,” said the prosecutor when reading the indictment.
The prosecutor said Defendant I wanted to give Andrie a lesson as a deterrent effect. Then, Defendant II suggested the idea of dousing with a rust cleaner liquid.
In short, the defendants sought information about Andrie Yunus’s activities. They divided tasks when carrying out the dousing.
The four soldiers are charged with violating Article 469 paragraph 1 subsidiary to Article 468 paragraph 1 further subsidiary to Article 467 paragraph 1 in conjunction with paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 20 letter C of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code.