Probation sentence sought for man tried for slander

Probation sentence sought for man tried for slander

JAKARTA (JP): Endin Wahyudin, a defendant in a defamation case
against two Supreme Court justices, expressed his frustration as
the prosecutor asked the Central Jakarta District Court on
Tuesday to sentence him to a three-month suspended jail term with
a six-month probation period.

"This country wants to combat corruption, collusion and
nepotism. So how could a man like me, who has reported corruption
involving justices, be put on trial?," Endin told reporters after
the court was closed by Presiding Judge Amirudin Zakaria.

He said that the court was supposed to free him from all
charges as it had yet to examine whether he had slandered the
justices.

"I'm not the only one who tried to bribe the justices. I
reported the case for the sake of the supremacy of the law. The
Attorney General's Office, along with the (now defunct) Joint
AntiCorruption Team (TGPTPK) had promised to protect me, but they
sent me to this trial. It's just not fair," Endin said.

Prosecutor Hasan Madani said in his indictment that Endin
violated Article 311 of the Criminal Code by defaming two
justices, Supraptini Sutarto and Marnis Kahar, as he told the
TGPTPK that he had bribed each of them with some Rp 50 million
(US$5,882) to win the case of his acquaintance Sunata Sumali,
which concerned a dispute over a 17,000-square-meter plot of land
in Bandung, West Java, with plaintiff Aminah.

Endin, who at the time acted as a middleman, also reported
another justice named Yahya Harahap, who had since retired, for
receiving some Rp 96 million in bribes.

According to Endin, he came to the Attorney General's Office
and met former attorney general Marzuki Darusman and chairman of
TGPTPK Adi Andojo as "he wanted to help them disclose corruption
cases in legal institutions."

Ironically, soon after TGPTPK revealed the corruption case to
the public, Endin had to face trial as Supraptini and Marnis had
filed a lawsuit with the National Police in August against him
and TGPTPK chairman Adi Andojo for defamation.

Even though the court, along with West Jakarta District Court
had opened the trial of Supraptini, Marnis and Yahya for
allegedly receiving bribes, they later on turned down the
indictments, saying that prosecutors had charged the justices
under the wrong law.

"The witnesses and evidence showed that Endin failed to prove
whether he, along with his friend Mesri Pasaribu, had directly
handed over money to the justices, as many witnesses, including
Endin himself, said that they had delivered the money through the
justices' staff," Hasan told the court.

The judge adjourned the trial until Sept. 25 to hear the
defense.

Meanwhile, Hendardi of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human
Rights Association (PBHI) told The Jakarta Post that the trial
had closed any prospect of public participation in disclosing
corruption cases.

"We can see that there's just no legal guarantee for members
of the public, who wish to help the government to combat
corruption. The person who reported the case has now been sent to
trial for another case, which is defamation and accused of being
guilty," Hendardi said.

"It is even worse that justices have protected their
colleagues from alleged corruption by taking advantage of a
loophole in Anticorruption Law No. 3/1999 as this law doesn't
recognize a retroactive principle," Hendardi said.

Hendardi said that Marzuki and Adi Andojo had failed to
protect Endin as their witness and asserted that "this country's
legal system does not recognize witness protection programs."

"We can't blame Pak Marzuki and Pak Adi for this. All we can
do now is propose to the Supreme Court to immediately establish
an independent team to probe these corruption cases," he said.
(tso)