Judge Deems Acid Attack on Activist Andrie Amateurish: It Makes Me Cringe

The panel of judges at the Military Court II-08 in Jakarta opined that the operation to attack KontraS activist Andrie Yunus with acid by four personnel from the Detachment Headquarters of the Strategic Intelligence Agency (Denma BAIS) TNI was highly amateurish.

The judge even stated that the attack, which ended up being recorded by surveillance cameras or CCTV near the scene of the incident (TKP), was embarrassing for BAIS.

“I mean, I’m not an intelligence person, maybe you all as well, these soldiers, seeing it like that, yeah, as the PH (legal counsel) said earlier, it’s so amateurish, it makes me cringe,” said the chief judge Colonel Chk Fredy Ferdian Isnartanto in the courtroom on Wednesday (6/5).

The judge then asked for the opinion of the Detachment Headquarters Commander (Dandenma) of the TNI Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) Colonel Inf Heri Haryadi, who was presented as a witness in today’s trial.

“If it were us, we’d just send someone, no need for training… This is embarrassing for BAIS. In quotes, embarrassing for BAIS. Why is the method so bad, so sloppy. So, in your opinion, is this how BAIS personnel work?” asked the judge.

“Yes, sir. Permission, we have no opinion on that matter, but we…” said Heri, who was immediately interrupted by the judge.

“Personally, this is so stupid,” interjected the judge.

“Yes, sir. Personally, because in our daily duties at Denma, we don’t handle external matters, especially things like that. We all focus on services, perhaps including the defendants, their daily work is services,” said Heri.

“Let’s just personal opinion, if I see it like that, I’m not an intelligence person, not a combat troop,” said the judge.

“Yeah, it’s not that extreme. We should play it smart first, right? How should it be. ‘Oh, there’s CCTV. Oh, wear a jacket, wear a mask, cover your face.’ Why in the middle of the road without a helmet, without this or that. Ah, this becomes a joke. Even I, who is not a combat troop, would think of that. This is a personal opinion, we can’t opine, this is a legal fact,” continued the judge explaining the point of the remark.

In addition to Heri, there were four other witnesses from within the TNI presented at the trial. There were also three civilian witnesses presented.

Meanwhile, the defendants in this case are Defendant I Sergeant Two Edi Sudarko, Defendant II First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi, Defendant III Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetyo, and Defendant IV First Lieutenant Sami Lakka.

Based on the indictment, the reason the defendants threw acid at Andrie was due to annoyance with Andrie’s behaviour, who often raised issues of militarism.

This included Andrie’s actions with a civil society coalition interrupting a closed meeting between the DPR and TNI regarding discussions on the TNI Bill at the Fairmont Hotel in March 2025.

“With that incident, the defendants considered brother Andrie Yunus to have insulted the TNI institution, even trampling on the TNI institution,” said the prosecutor when reading the indictment in a previous hearing.

The defendants are charged with violating Article 469 paragraph 1 subsidiary Article 468 paragraph 1 further subsidiary 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.