Hotman Paris Apologises for Inappropriate Remarks During Press Conference on Former Jampidsus Case

Prominent lawyer Hotman Paris, who represents former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) Febrie Adriansyah, has apologised for a statement deemed inappropriate towards a journalist. He admitted he was emotional, leading to the disrespectful words. “In connection with the appeal from the Indonesian Journalists Association and fellow journalists, I hereby express my deepest apologies for my statement during the press conference on the case of the former Jampidsus, where I said, ‘do you even have a brain?’,” he said via a statement on his Instagram account on Monday. However, Hotman explained the chronology of the incident. The quote circulated on social media, he said, was only the final part. According to Hotman, the actual event began when a journalist asked, “Does the relevant agency have a hidden agenda?” Hearing this, Hotman said he did not know and lacked the capacity to answer. However, before he could finish his explanation, a second journalist asked, “Did the agency make a mistake?” Bombarded with these questions, Hotman admitted he became emotional because he had previously stated he did not know. Then came the statement, “do you even have a brain?” “I had answered, I don’t know, I don’t know the hidden agenda of law enforcement, that’s roughly what actually happened,” Hotman said. Regardless, Hotman did not deny that the situation had made him emotional. Therefore, he once again apologised to the journalist concerned and to journalist organisations in Indonesia. “Because I have always been close to journalists, once again there was no intention whatsoever, but because I was bombarded with two questions to which I said I didn’t know, I became emotional,” he stated.