PKS MP: Acquittal of Delpedro and Colleagues a Victory for Democracy

JAKARTA — Nasir Djamil, a member of Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives for the PKS faction, said the acquittal of Delpedro Marhaen Rismansyah and his co-defendants in the case of alleged incitement during the August 2025 demonstrations was a victory for democracy and civil liberties.

“This acquittal, in my view, is a victory for democracy and also for civil liberties,” Nasir told Kompas.com on Friday, 6 March 2026.

Nasir said the ruling should be welcomed because the panel of judges is believed to have considered the case in depth before delivering verdict.

“We are grateful and thankful to the panel of judges who still possess depth of conscience and mind, so that Delpedro and friends were acquitted,” he said.

The PKS politician also hopes the public prosecutors will accept the ruling and refrain from filing an appeal.

“Our hope is that the public prosecutors will not lodge an appeal and will be able to accept the acquittal,” he said.

“Nevertheless, the investigators and prosecutors hold beliefs that cannot be blamed. The conviction held by investigators and prosecutors that Delpedro and his colleagues committed incitement during the August 2025 demonstration has been overturned by the panel of judges. We respect their beliefs,” he concluded.

The defendants, Delpedro Marhaen Rismansyah and three others, were acquitted by the panel of judges of the Central Jakarta District Court.

The panel stated that Delpedro Marhaen, Muzaffar Salim, Syahdan Husein, and Khariq Anhar were not proved to have incited riots at the demonstration.

“Declaring that accused I Delpedro Marhaen Rismansyah, accused II Muzaffar Salim, accused III Syahdan Husein, and accused IV Khariq Anhar were not proven beyond reasonable doubt to have committed the offenses charged in the first, second, third and fourth counts,” said Chief Judge Harika Nova Yeri when reading the verdict at the Central Jakarta District Court, Kemayoran, on Friday, 6 March 2026.

“Thus, the defendants are acquitted of all charges brought by the Prosecution,” she added.

The panel also ordered that the four defendants be released from custody after the verdict was read.

The judges also requested that the defendants’ rights in terms of ability, position, and dignity be restored.

Earlier, the public prosecutor had demanded two years imprisonment for Delpedro and the three other defendants.

In the indictment reading at the Central Jakarta District Court on Friday (26 Feb 2026), the prosecutor stated that the four defendants had been proven to commit the crime of jointly inciting others in public, verbally or in writing, to commit a crime or oppose the government with violence.

The prosecutor said the act violated Article 246 in conjunction with Article 20C of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Indonesian Penal Code (KUHP).