Newspaper editor convicted for insult

Newspaper editor convicted for insult

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Press freedom took another hit when the South Jakarta District
Court handed down on Monday a six-month suspended jail sentence
and one year probation to the executive editor of Rakyat Merdeka
daily for publishing articles that insulted President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.

The sentence for the executive editor, Supratman, was less
than the one-year jail term prosecutors were seeking.

"He was found guilty of violating Article 137 of the Criminal
Code on the publication of articles that insult the president and
vice president," presiding judge Zoeber Djajadi told the
courtroom.

The 34-year-old editor was acquitted on the main charge of
violating Article 134 of the Criminal Code for deliberately
libeling the president and vice president, which carries a
maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Supratman said that he would appeal the verdict.

The case revolves around the publication of four articles on
the front page of Rakyat Merdeka daily in January and February.

Two of the articles ran under headlines that read Mulut Mega
Bau Solar (Mega's mouth smells of diesel fuel), accompanied by a
picture depicting a woman drinking diesel fuel, and Mega Lebih
Kejam dari Sumanto (Mega is crueler than Sumanto), referring to a
man from Purwokerto, Central Java, who was convicted of
cannibalism.

The articles themselves were reports on street rallies
organized by students in the capital against the President's
policies. The headlines for the articles were taken from slogans
chanted during the rallies.

The defendant's lawyer, Adnan Buyung Nasution, said the daily
was criticizing the government and not Megawati personally.

The daily is popular for its tabloid-style journalism. The
paper regularly publishes humorous and cynical caricatures and
stories mocking politicians.

Earlier last month, the same court sentenced the daily chief
editor Karim Paputungan to five months in jail, suspended for 10
months, for insulting House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
Tandjung.