Karo District Prosecutor's Office Does Not File Cassation, Amsal Sitepu's Acquittal Verdict Officially Enforceable
The Karo District Prosecutor’s Office in North Sumatra has confirmed that it will not file a cassation appeal against the acquittal verdict handed down by the panel of judges at the Medan District Court for videographer Amsal Sitepu. Consequently, the case now holds final legal force (inkracht).
“The Public Prosecutor of the Karo District Prosecutor’s Office did not file a cassation against that acquittal verdict,” stated Rizaldi, Head of Legal Information at the North Sumatra Attorney General’s Office, to CNNIndonesia.com on Tuesday (14/4).
Rizaldi explained that this step is based on Article 299 of Law No. 20 of 2025 on the Criminal Procedure Code, which stipulates that prosecutors cannot file cassation appeals against acquittal verdicts.
“Because under the new Criminal Procedure Code, prosecutors cannot file cassation appeals against acquittal verdicts,” he said.
Additionally, he noted that based on the views from the public hearing meeting (RDPU) of House of Representatives Commission III regarding the Amsal Sitepu case at the DPR RI building on Thursday (2/4/2026), the commission requested that prosecutors not file cassation.
“Then, regarding that RDPU, Commission III has already provided its views,” he said.
Previously, the panel of judges at the Medan District Court issued an acquittal verdict for the defendant Amsal Christy Sitepu on Wednesday (1/4/2026). He was found not guilty of mark-up in the production of village profile videos in Karo Regency for the 2020-2022 fiscal years amounting to Rp202,161,980.
“Ruling, stating that the defendant Amsal has not been legally and convincingly proven guilty of the acts as charged primarily and subsidiarily by the public prosecutor,” stated the panel of judges chaired by Mohammad Yusafrihardi Girsang.
Therefore, the panel ordered the defendant to be acquitted from the public prosecutor’s charges and the restoration of the defendant’s rights in his position, status, dignity, and honour.
Previously, public prosecutor Wira Arizona had demanded two years’ imprisonment for the defendant Amsal, a fine of Rp50 million or three months’ detention in lieu. In addition, Amsal was burdened with repaying state losses of Rp202,161,980. If not paid, it would be replaced with one year in prison.
In the prosecutor’s indictment, it was stated that Amsal, who also serves as Director of CV Promiseland, handled the project for producing profile videos for 20 villages in Karo Regency. The programme was funded from village funds.
However, the prosecutor assessed that the proposal submitted by Amsal to the village heads was not properly prepared and tended to be marked up. Moreover, the implementation of the work was deemed not in accordance with the Bill of Quantities (RAB). Each video project was set at a cost of Rp30 million per village.
From the analysis by the auditors of the Karo Regency Inspectorate, the cost of producing the video should have been around Rp24.1 million per village. This is because services for editing, cutting, and dubbing should have been priced at Rp0. Therefore, Amsal was deemed to have enriched himself by Rp202,161,980.