Judge Rules Acid Attack on Andrie Yunus Not a Military Intelligence Operation

The panel of judges has declared that the acid attack carried out by four Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel against KontraS Deputy Coordinator Andrie Yunus was not a structured, systematic, and massive intelligence operation. Panel member Major of Naval Law Zainal Abidin stated during the trial that an expert had affirmed strategic intelligence operations are not built on personal anger, but on calculated state interests. “The panel of judges, basing its view on the expert’s opinion, asserts and believes that the defendants’ actions had no connection to the involvement of the command structure,” said Judge Zainal while reading the verdict at Military Court II-08 in Jakarta on Wednesday. In the case of alleged abuse against Andrie, four defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one year and six months to three years. The four defendants are Second Sergeant Edi Sudarko, sentenced to three years in prison; First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi, sentenced to two years and six months; Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetya, sentenced to two years; and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka, sentenced to one year and six months. In addition to prison sentences, Edi and Budhi each received an additional penalty of dismissal from military service. To classify an action as an official intelligence operation, Judge Zainal emphasised that it must be demonstrable through a strategic state objective. Thus, an intelligence operation can proceed only if there is a command structure order or authorisation, operational planning, operating system support, implementation control, an evaluation mechanism, and accountability. “Because these elements were absent, it is very difficult, both professionally and doctrinally, to call an action an official intelligence operation,” said Judge Zainal. In this case, the four TNI personnel were proven to have thrown acid on Andrie with the aim of teaching him a lesson and creating a “deterrent effect” so he would stop disparaging the TNI institution. The attitude of Andrie that the defendants viewed as insulting the TNI institution occurred on 16 March 2025, when the activist from the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence forcibly entered and interrupted a meeting on the revision of the TNI Law in Jakarta. Among other actions that angered the defendants were Andrie challenging the TNI Law at the Constitutional Court, accusing the TNI of intimidating or terrorising the KontraS office, and being the mastermind or actor in the late August 2025 riots, as well as aggressively promoting an anti-militarism narrative. Consequently, the actions of the TNI personnel, who had planned to carry out an acid attack on Andrie knowing that the chemical liquid could cause severe burns, were deemed unbecoming conduct for TNI members. For their actions, the four defendants were found guilty of violating Article 467 paragraph (1) in conjunction with paragraph (2) jo. Article 20 letter C of the National Criminal Code.