Judge Rejects Roy Suryo's Fourth Pretrial Motion

A single judge at the South Jakarta District Court (PN Jaksel) has rejected the fourth pretrial motion filed by Roy Suryo against the Metro Jaya Police. In this latest motion, Roy Suryo challenged the travel ban or prohibition on travelling abroad.

“Adjudicating, rejecting the petitioner’s pretrial motion in its entirety,” said single judge I Ketut Darpawan while reading the verdict at the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday (26/8/2026).

In his considerations, the judge assessed that the motion filed by Roy Suryo was not relevant. The judge stated that Roy Suryo’s status has now changed from suspect to defendant following the transfer of the main case file to the court.

“Since the main case was transferred by the public prosecutor to the East Jakarta District Court and has been registered, from that point onwards the authority over the case has shifted to the East Jakarta District Court and the petitioner’s status has changed to defendant,” the judge explained.

The judge elaborated on the provisions of Article 163 paragraph 1 letter e of the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP). According to him, a pretrial motion can only postpone the commencement of the main case examination if the main case is transferred while the pretrial process is ongoing.

The judge stated that Roy deliberately filed motions one by one after the main case had entered the court. The judge issued a stern warning over this legal manoeuvre.

“However, if the main case has been transferred to the court, and only then pretrial motions are filed one by one using Article 160 paragraph 3, then this must be considered an abuse of legal procedure,” the judge said.

For context, this is Roy Suryo’s fourth pretrial motion. Previously, in the first motion, the South Jakarta District Court judge partially granted Roy’s motion regarding the search, arrest and detention procedures. However, that ruling was declared not to affect the main case.

In the second motion, Roy challenged his suspect status, but the judge rejected the request as it was deemed irrelevant. In the third motion, Roy demanded compensation from the Metro Jaya Police. However, the judge declared the motion inadmissible (formal defect) because Roy did not include the Minister of Finance as a respondent.

In this case, Roy Suryo and Tifauzia Tyassuma, also known as Dr Tifa, have been named as suspects in the defamation case concerning Jokowi’s diploma. The case files for both have been transferred to the East Jakarta District Court, but the main trial has not yet commenced as it awaits the rulings on this series of pretrial motions.