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