Hidden camera lands two in jail

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced two assistant photographers to 10 months in jail on Friday, for illegally filming several models while they were changing in a bathroom. The court decided the two were not guilty of disseminating the footage for financial reason.

But the panel of judges ruled that Benhur Bangunkarjaya alias Beung and Kodim Wahid were guilty of violating Article 282 of the Criminal Code on obscenity.

"What we see in the VCD (video compact disc) is not a work of art. Showing several models changing their clothes is not art, it's pornography," presiding Judge Syamsul Ali told the court.

Two other defendants in the case are Budi Han, the owner of the photo studio where the two convicted worked and Denny Gurnadi Ginting, an employee of AIM Advertising who allegedly sent the models to be photographed at the Budi Han photo studio.

The judges ruled that the charge of violating Article 40 of Law No. 8/1992 on the movie industry -- which deals with disseminating, exporting and showing footage which does not pass the censor board -- was not proven.

The article carries a maximum punishment of five years in jail and a Rp 50 million (US$5,882.36) fine.

The judges considered the defendants' act had, "destroyed the dignity of the models and had also triggered the likelihood of casual sex among young people."

However, the defendants' good behavior during the trial and their capacity as assistants -- who took orders from their superior -- had helped in lightening their sentences.

Prosecutor Agnes Triani had earlier demanded a 15-month jail term for each of the four defendants.

The case came to the surface in March, when seven models aspiring to be television stars -- including Rachel Maryam, Femmy Permatasari, Sarah Azhari and Shanty -- reported the case to the police after the footage hit the illegal VCD market in Glodok, West Jakarta.

The crime took place in 1997 at the Budi Han photo studio in Tebet, South Jakarta. At that time the models were struggling to break into the entertainment industry, they claimed they were sent to the photo studio to be photographed for advertisements of various food and beverage products.

Police said that the footage was taken through a two-way mirror in the bathroom, which also functioned as a changing room. The mirror was reportedly removed when the room was renovated in 2002.