One year jail term sought for senior police officer
One year jail term sought for senior police officer
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
A prosecutor has demanded that Sorong district court sentence a senior police officer to one year in prison for his alleged involvement in illegal logging.
R. Simon, the prosecutor, said during a court session on Monday that the defendant, Adj. Sr. Comr. Faisal Abdul Nazer, should serve a jail sentence as he had given a false report to his superior regarding the loss of the MV Africa that was loaded with 12,000 cubic meters of valuable merbau timber. The prosecutor also charged Faisal with allowing the boat and its load escape legal custody.
The case began two years ago when Faisal, the then chief of Sorong regental police, ordered Chief. Brig. Atjeng Danda to write a letter to Papua provincial police headquarters regarding the seizure of the MV Africa. In the letter, the officer reported that during the arrest Sorong police also seized its load of merbau timber. Later on, however, the boat and its cargo disappeared, leading to the presumption that Faisal had filed a false report.
Besides Faisal, four other police officers serving in Sorong regental police at that time are also facing prosecution in relation to the same case. They are Adj. Sr. Comr. I Putu Mahesa, the then deputy chief of Sorong regental police, police detectives First. Insp. Anshar Djohar, Second. Insp. Widodo and Chief Brig. Atjeng Danda.
Another suspect, Adj. Comr. Taswin, the chief of Sorong police detectives, is still at large.
All four are charged with causing evidence to go missing, which carries a maximum sentence of nine months in jail.
Following the Monday trial session, Muhammad Syukur, Faisal's lawyer expressed objections. He said that Faisal should have been set free, as the defendant was only taking orders from his superior to release the MV Africa and its cargo.
The verbal instruction was supposedly given by Brig. Gen. RT, who was then deputy chief of Papua provincial police, said the lawyer.