Man gets suspended sentence for for environment pollution
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A man who ran a small waste recycling business was convicted on Tuesday of illegally recycling dangerous materials, but was cleared on the more serious charge of causing environmental damage in Munjul, East Jakarta.
The East Jakarta District Court gave defendant Masnan Helmi to a 10-month suspended sentence, effective for two years. This means that Masnan will be jailed for 10 months if he commits the same crime within the next two years.
Masnan was found guilty of violating Article 41 of Law No. 23/1997 on the environment, for illegally operating his waste recycling business in an area not zoned for such activities. The article carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Chief prosecutor Supinah had asked the court to sentence Masnan to three years in prison for contaminating the water supply for a community unit in Munjul.
Masnan's wife, apparently unaware of the meaning of a suspended jail sentence, cried out after presiding judge Mansyur Nasution read the verdict. She was calmed by relatives who accompanied her to the courtroom.
Explaining the light sentence, the panel of judges said Masnan had not been proven guilty of the more serious charge of contaminating the water supply.
The water in the area was found to contain 4,997 parts per million (ppm) of zinc, and 4,344 ppm of lead. According to the state, allowable levels for lead and zinc are 0.1 ppm and 2.0 ppm, respectively, experts testified.
Residents are no longer able to use the water, which causes rashes and has a bitter taste. The contamination affected all of the water supplies in the area, being particularly high in those less than one kilometer from Masnan's company.
According to the experts from Padjadjaran University, the pollution spread at the rate of 1.4 kilometers per day.
However, the judges, in their verdict, only mentioned that the water in the area was contaminated with zinc.
Every week, Masnan's company recycled tons of waste, including electronics and batteries from PT Indo Lysaht and PT Matsushita Gobel, according to the testimony of Masnan's employees, Sutiyo and Syahrizal.
The prosecutors had charged that the electronic waste led to the increased zinc levels, and the batteries to the high lead readings.
According to the verdict, the water supply in the neighborhood has been contaminated since 1996, while Masnan only began running his business in 1999, after he took it over from a friend who recycled paper, boxes and wood.
Masnan operated his business from March 1999 to August 2000, closing it down in response to complaints from residents about pollution.
Residents of Munjul filed several protests with the Office of the State Minister for the Environment over the matter. The office said it would take legal action against any party involved in the pollution.
With the verdict delivered, it remains unclear who will be responsible for cleaning up the water supply in the area.