Judicial Commission opens public-complaints channel in 2-tonne meth case

Batam, Indonesia — The Head of the Judges’ Ethics and Investigation Division of the Judicial Commission of Indonesia (Komisi Yudisial RI), Abhan, said the Commission is opening a channel for the public to report alleged ethical violations by judges in the Batam District Court case involving the smuggling of 2 tonnes of methamphetamine. ‘If there are reports, we will accommodate them. If there are complaints, we will receive and handle them further,’ Abhan said in Batam on Thursday. He spoke after a panel of judges handed down a five-year prison sentence to ABK Fandi Ramadhan. He noted that to date there have been no reports from the public or other parties regarding the court process. In response to questions about alleged interference, including the developing issue of whether the charge of ‘death penalty’ had been changed to a five-year sentence, Abhan declined to comment further. He said KY remains within its mandate, namely supervising judges’ ethics. ‘KY respects the verdict pronounced by the panel. If the parties have not accepted it, there are legal remedies. But if there are alleged ethical violations and improper conduct by a judge, that is KY’s remit, as long as there is a report from the parties,’ he said. Abhan also emphasised that KY cannot enter into the substance of the verdict or the panel’s legal considerations, including related to the use of the new KUHP provisions in the operative part of the verdict. ‘KY’s task is to enforce ethics and the code of conduct for judges, not to assess the merits of the ruling,’ he added. Earlier, the panel handed down a five-year sentence to Fandi Ramadhan in the case of smuggling methamphetamine, with a net weight of 1,995,139 grams, or nearly 2 tonnes, seized from the Sea Dragon Terawa.