No trial by the press in Indonesia, says expert

JAKARTA (JP): Judges' verdicts are often influenced by economics or pressure from authorities but not by the press, legal experts said yesterday.

Luhut M.P Pangaribuan, director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said the term, "trial by press," only existed in the Anglo-Saxon judicial system.

"We have not adopted that system, so the terminology is unknown here," he said.

On Thursday, Amir Syamsudin, a lawyer in a highly publicized Ecstasy case, said the "cruel" four-year jail term handed down to his client had been strongly influenced by public opinion.

When the prosecutor urged the court early this month to sentence the defendant to five years in jail, Amir said the sentencing request was heavy because of the great public attention toward the case which had been caused by extensive media coverage.

Luhut said the coverage had not directly influenced the judges' decision, but it had indirectly.

"I'm not saying that it did not influence the judges' or prosecutor's decision, because everyone who was bombarded by the coverage was eventually affected," he said.

But, he said, media coverage had never influenced him as a lawyer.

Henry Yosodiningrat, another of Zarina's three lawyers, who has been involved in many highly publicized cases, was of the same opinion.

He said judges' decisions were usually influenced by factors other than media coverage.

But Henry questioned the judge's sentencing in the case over possession of thousands of Ecstasy pills.

"I'm not sure whether it was influenced by public opinion, but something unusual happened behind the verdict," he said.

He said the media had had a positive affect on his client's image.

"In the Zarina case, I was initially worried that the court's decision would be influenced by the continuous reporting by a lot of media. But it turned out to advantage us because people began to show sympathy toward my client," he said.

Ashadi Siregar, director of the Yogyakarta-based Institute of Research, Education and Publication, said that trial by press only occurred when reporters' coverage led the public to conclude that a person was innocent or guilty.

"It can also happen when the media writes stories on cases outside the judicial process," he said.

Ashadi said that balanced reporting involved simple reports on what happened in court hearings. "Reporters should not ask for statements from judges, prosecutors or lawyers outside the sessions," he said.

He said the media could be exploited to affect the outcome of cases. He said a lawyer could pay a journalist to write or broadcast his or her side of story.

Ashadi said that when reporters emphasized one side of a case -- such as only interviewing lawyers -- they affected public opinion.

"Prosecutors or lawyers would say a trial by press had occurred if public opinion was powerful enough to influence the trial process," he said.

Ashadi said there had been many trials by press if this meant the media had affected public opinion, but it was not out of proportion.

"The term was taken from a foreign judicial system, in which jurors decide the verdict, and jurors are common people who know little about law and are probably easily influenced," he said.

This is why, he said, jurors were isolated during trials.

"But here," he said, "we have no such system."

The question was whether judges' decisions were impartial. "I question their morality and impartiality," he said. (12)