Judge in Andrie Case Rebukes TNI Defendants as 'Stupid' for Splashing Corrosive Liquid
The Military Court II-08 panel in Jakarta has rebuked the actions of personnel from the Detachment Headquarters of the TNI Strategic Intelligence Agency (Denma BAIS) who used a tumbler to splash corrosive liquid on the face of Andrie Yunus, Deputy Coordinator for External Affairs of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS).
During the hearing, the Jakarta Military Prosecutor II-07 presented the tumbler, said to contain a mixture of rust cleaner and car battery fluid, which the defendant used to splash the corrosive liquid on Andrie on 12 March.
“Does that tumbler have a lid?” asked the panel chairman, Colonel Chk Fredy Ferdian Isnartanto.
“It no longer has one,” replied the prosecutor.
The judge then asked the four defendants who held and splashed the liquid from the tumbler onto Andrie. The defendants stated that the tumbler still had its lid when the splashing occurred.
“Did it have a lid at the time?” asked the judge.
“Yes, sir, it did at that time,” replied the defendant.
The judge also questioned why the defendants did not use another bottle to avoid splashing.
“Why choose the tumbler to splash with?” asked the judge.
“That’s the only one available,” replied the defendant.
“If you used an Aqua bottle, for example, why not use that?” the judge asked again.
“There was no Aqua bottle in the unit,” replied the defendant.
“Well, if you open this, the hole is big, I say ‘how stupid’, using a tumbler with such a large mouth, of course it splashes, just like using a glass,” said the judge.
There are four Denma BAIS TNI personnel being prosecuted in the case of splashing corrosive liquid on Andrie Yunus.
They 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.
According to the indictment, the reason the defendants splashed Andrie with corrosive liquid 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 that Andrie Yunus had insulted the TNI institution, even trampling on the TNI institution,” said the prosecutor when reading the indictment in the 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.