Photo studio owner gets one year for obscenity

Photo studio owner gets one year for obscenity

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced on Monday a photographer to one year in jail for illegally filming three models changing clothes in the bathroom of his studio.

Presiding judge Asnawati found Budi Han, the owner of a photo studio in Tebet, South Jakarta, guilty of violating Article 282 (2) of the Criminal Code on obscenity.

"He has been proven guilty of deliberately producing obscene pictures and displaying them in public," the judge said in the verdict.

The victims suffered terrible humiliation from the production of the film, she said.

The judge said the scenes film shot by Budi in no way qualified as art.

"Instead, it was blatant pornography," she said.

The sentence was lighter than the 15 months being sought by prosecutors.

After hearing the verdict, the defendant authorized his lawyers to file an appeal.

Budi and two of his assistants, Benny Ginting and Kodim, were arrested for illegally filming three models using a handheld video camera through a two-way mirror in the bathroom of the photographer's studio. They allegedly made the film in 1997.

The three were charged under Article 282 (2) of the Criminal Code on obscenity.

The three were arrested after models Rachel Maryam, Sarah Azhari and Femmy Permatasari filed a complaint with the police after discovering pirated VCDs of themselves for sale in the city.

Last week, the court sentenced Benny and Kodim each to 10 months in prison.