Plaintiff's Hopes Ahead of Verdict on Kartini Day
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity has stated that three female judges at the State Administrative Court (PTUN) will deliver the verdict on a lawsuit regarding Culture Minister Fadli Zon’s denial of the mass rape case in May 1998.
“Three judges in the panel. The chief judge is Ms Hastin Kurniadewi, with panel members Ninyoman Vidyayu Purbasari and Ms Febrina Permadi. These are the three female judges who will decide this case. The verdict is on 21 April, which is commonly known as Kartini Day,” said the coalition’s legal representative, Daniel Wiranata, at the Amnesty International Indonesia office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday (7/4/2026).
He emphasised that Fadli Zon’s denial of the May 1998 mass rape case constitutes a lie.
“For us, we have emphasised that Fadli Zon has lied and has committed obstruction of justice or hindered the judicial process,” he said.
“So we await the verdict. We hope our lawsuit is granted. What exactly are we asking for in the verdict? We request that the court declare Fadli Zon’s statement as an unlawful act, and second, that the defendant or Fadli Zon retract his statement,” he added.
Previously, Culture Minister Fadli Zon was sued at the State Administrative Court (PTUN) Jakarta by the Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity on 11 September 2025.
The lawsuit concerns Fadli’s statement, which is deemed to deny the May 1998 mass rapes and delegitimise the work of the Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF) for May 1998.
The plaintiff’s legal representative, Jane Rosalina, said the lawsuit has been registered under case number 303/G/2025/PTUN-JKT.
“Today, we have filed the lawsuit against the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Fadli Zon, with the registered case number 303/G/2025/PTUN-JKT, which we registered directly at the PTUN Jakarta today,” Jane said at a press conference broadcast on the Kontras YouTube account on 11 September 2025.
The object of the lawsuit is Fadli Zon’s statement released by the Ministry of Culture on 16 June 2025.
At that time, Fadli stated that the TGPF report only contained figures without strong evidence and warned against “embarrassing our own nation” when discussing the May 1998 events.
The coalition assesses that the statement not only exceeds the authority of the Minister of Culture but also contradicts several regulations, including Law No. 30 of 2014 on Government Administration, Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights, and Law No. 26 of 2000 on Human Rights Courts.
“The Ministry of Culture itself has no connection to efforts to resolve serious human rights violation cases,” Jane said.