Ministry of Human Rights Pushes for Acid Attack Case Involving Andrie Yunus to be Resolved Through General Courts

The Ministry of Human Rights (Kemenham) is giving serious attention to the legal process of the acid attack case allegedly involving four members of the TNI’s Denma BAIS against activist Andrie Yunus.

Director General of Human Rights Services and Compliance at Kemenham, Munafrizal Manan, stated that aspirations from DPR members, legal experts, and human rights activists for the acid attack case to be resolved through general courts should be considered. This aims to ensure the matter is investigated thoroughly as it is, not limited to field perpetrators but also including intellectual masterminds.

If prolonged controversy arises regarding jurisdiction between military and general courts, Munafrizal mentioned the Supreme Court (MA) as the key to resolution.

“The Supreme Court has the authority to examine and decide at the first and final level on disputes over jurisdiction between judicial environments. The MA can end this legal controversy,” Munafrizal said in his statement on Thursday (26/3).

Munafrizal highlighted the current legal anomaly in the division of case handling between Polri and TNI.

“The current situation is that the police have examined witnesses and possess evidence of the incident, while TNI’s Puspom has detained and named suspects. This creates an anomaly; one agency has evidence but no suspects, while the other has suspects but minimal evidence,” he said.

Munafrizal warned against public perceptions of dualism or competition between TNI and Polri in handling the same case. He urged both institutions to quickly synchronise to determine the absolute competence of the court that will decide the case.

In accordance with Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code, Munafrizal emphasised that national criminal law must uphold human rights. Handling that lacks transparency is feared to harm those principles.

“TNI and Polri need to promptly state their position regarding the connectivity provisions for cases as regulated in Law No. 20 of 2025 on the Criminal Procedure Code. This is important so that there are not two different judicial bodies handling the exact same substantive case simultaneously,” he explained.