Lawyer Requests Roy Suryo Not Be Detained During Transfer to South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office

Ahead of the second-stage transfer of the alleged defamation and slander case concerning President Joko Widodo’s diploma, Roy Suryo’s legal counsel has requested that the South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office (Kejari Jaksel) not detain their client. The legal team argues that the legal process can proceed without placing the suspect behind bars. Roy Suryo’s lawyer, Ahmad Khozinudin, stressed that detention should be a last resort when no other alternatives exist in law enforcement. “As long as the legal process can be carried out without detention, detention becomes unnecessary,” Khozinudin said at Polda Metro Jaya on Monday (22/6). Khozinudin accompanied Roy Suryo, who was transferred from the Kramat Jati Police Hospital to Polda Metro Jaya to complete administrative procedures before the handover of the suspect and evidence to the South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office. He assessed that investigators actually have several legal instruments available without resorting to arrest or detention. “One of them is through a formal summons mechanism regulated in the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP),” he stated. In his argument, Khozinudin compared Roy Suryo’s case to a defamation case involving Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti. According to him, the legal process in that case proceeded to trial without the defendants being detained. He argued that the primary charge against Roy Suryo essentially relates to defamation and slander. Therefore, he questioned the application of additional articles concerning electronic data manipulation under the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE). “Do not extend it with irrelevant offenses, such as editing or manipulation of electronic data. We understand this (additional article) is merely a mode to enable detention,” Khozinudin said. According to him, the application of Articles 32 and 35 of the ITE Law means the criminal threat faced by Roy Suryo exceeds five years’ imprisonment, thus legally fulfilling the objective requirements for detention. “Whereas, if referring to the defamation article in the Criminal Code (KUHP), the threat of punishment is under four years,” he said. On that basis, Khozinudin hopes the South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office can consider aspects of justice objectively and look at the handling practices of similar cases that have occurred in the same jurisdiction. “Do not let a public perception emerge that law enforcement is being carried out arbitrarily,” he said. Previously, suspects in the alleged defamation and slander case related to the authenticity of the 7th President of Indonesia’s diploma, Roy Suryo and Tifauzia Tyassuma, also known as Doctor Tifa, were transferred from the Kramat Jati Police Hospital to the Polda Metro Jaya detention centre ahead of the second-stage handover to the South Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office.