JP/5/mayor

JP/5/mayor

Court acquits Cirebon mayor in poll bias case

Nana Rukmana
The Jakarta Post/Cirebon

The Cirebon District Court in West Java acquitted Cirebon Mayor
Subardi on Monday of charges of bias in connection with his
campaigning for former president Megawati ahead of the Sept. 20
election runoff.

The panel of judges led by Silalahi argued that the charges
laid by prosecutors Herdinan and Eman Sulaeman against the
defendant were not proven in his trial.

The prosecutors sought two months' imprisonment and a Rp 1
million (US$111) fine for the mayor, who chairs the Cirebon
branch of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P).

They charged Subardi with illegally campaigning for Megawati
and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi on Sept. 16 in Cirebon.

The case was reported to Cirebon Police by the city's Election
Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) which obtained a video compact
disc that showed the mayor addressing a rally organized by the
PDI-P.

Panwaslu and the prosecutors accused the mayor of violating
Article 40 of Law 23/2003 on presidential elections.

But the judges said Subardi was not guilty of violating the
law.

The mayor, who arrived at the court at around 11:30 a.m.
accompanied by his supporters from the PDI-P, laughed upon
hearing the verdict. His supporters also hailed the mayor's
acquittal.

Subardi later left the court after shaking hands with the
judges and the prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the prosecutor lashed out at the court for
acquitting the mayor. "The judges should have considered various
psychological aspects resulting from the campaign carried out by
a state official," Eman Sulaeman said.

He said the judges should have sentenced Subardi to at least
one month in jail if they considered that the charges lacked
evidence.

"Unfortunately, the court verdict on an election violation
case is final, so we cannot appeal," Eman said.