Judges Urged to Consider Freeing Videographer Amsal Sitepu

Jakarta – Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) held a limited meeting with Amsal Christy Sitepu, a videographer involved in a village project in Karo Regency, North Sumatra, who is a defendant in a corruption case concerning budget inflation, on Monday, 30 March 2026.

Commission III of the DPR RI agreed that law enforcement authorities could consider a verdict of acquittal or a light sentence for the videographer defendant, Amsal.

“Commission III of the DPR RI calls on the Panel of Judges in the case of Mr Amsal Christy Sitepu to consider a verdict of acquittal or at least a light sentence based on the facts of the trial, and to explore, understand, and follow the legal values and sense of justice prevailing in society, including for workers in the creative industry as regulated in Article 5 paragraph (2) of Law Number 48 of 2009 on Judicial Power,” said the Chairman of Commission III of the DPR, Habiburokhman.

In addition, Commission III of the DPR also wants law enforcement to consider that the court’s decision should not set a counterproductive precedent for the creative industry climate in Indonesia due to the threat of criminal penalties or over-criminalisation oriented towards retributive justice and imprisonment.

Substantively, according to him, creative videography work does not have a fixed price, so it cannot be said that there was inflation or mark-up from a standard price.

He emphasised that the works of creative economy actors, from the initial creative idea or concept, editing work, video cutting, voice filling or dubbing, cannot be unilaterally valued at Rp0.

“Commission III of the DPR RI strongly supports the eradication of corruption and reminds that the priority of corruption eradication is not merely fulfilling targets of imprisoning people arbitrarily, but maximising the recovery of state financial losses,” he said.

In Amsal’s case, continued Habiburokhman, the state financial loss is Rp202 million, and the aim of law enforcement would be better achieved if the recovery of state financial losses is maximised from the outset.

Commission III of the DPR RI proposes that Amsal Christy Sitepu be granted a suspension of detention with Commission III of the DPR RI as the guarantor.