Porn defendant walks free

Porn defendant walks free

JAKARTA: Central Jakarta District Court acquitted on Thursday
the manager of a movie production house of charges of violating
the law on obscenity.

George Ivan alias Jos, manager of PT Indocho Rama, stood trial
for producing pornographic videos disguised as a cast screening
for a soap advertisement.

He was charged with violating Article 282 of the Criminal Code
for publishing pornographic materials which carries a maximum
sentence of two years.

He was also charged with violating Law No.2/1998 for illegally
distributing film.

Presiding judge Iskandar Tjakke told the courtroom that the
defendant could not be found guilty of publishing pornographic
materials.

"In the offense, the defendant merely acted as a style
director, therefore the charge is invalid," Tjakke said in the
verdict.

Iskandar also said that no witnesses supported the
prosecutors' charges.

Prosecutors, who had sought a six-month jail term for the
offense, said they would appeal.

The pornographic video, which was illegally distributed and
available on the black market, was made on Nov. 29, 2000. Scores
of young female models who appeared in the video were initially
led to believe that they would be acting in TV commercials and
lured with a bogus contract worth Rp 500 million (US$58,000).

In October, the South Jakarta District Court sentenced photo
studio owner Budi Han to one year in jail for discreetly
producing pornographic video of TV soap opera stars. -- JP