Professors Urge Case of Andrie Yunus to Be Brought to General Court
A number of professors, dozens of academics from various universities, and hundreds of civil society organisations have submitted a petition urging that the handling of the acid attack case against Andrie Yunus be conducted through the mechanism of the general court.
One of the petition signatories, Al Araf, stated that the attack on Andrie is not merely violence and intimidation against an individual, but a systemic assault on democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.
“There is no room for compromise or excuses; this case must be tried in the general court,” said Al Araf via WhatsApp message on Wednesday, 1 April 2026.
According to him, the involvement of four personnel from the Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) in this case is suspected to involve a chain of command. Therefore, the handling of the case must not stop at the field perpetrators but also include the intellectual authors.
Those who signed the petition, Al Araf said, have reminded of the legal politics following the 1998 Reformasi, which also encompassed TNI reform. In that context, soldiers who commit general criminal offences should be tried in the general court, not the military court.
Attempts to bring this case to the realm of the military court, he said, would only perpetuate impunity and neglect the victim’s rights. Because, in various records and studies, the handling of cases in military courts often proceeds without objectivity.
“Such tendencies must not be allowed because they set a bad precedent and threaten the protection of civil liberties in Indonesia,” Al Araf stated.
Yesterday, in a meeting with Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR), the Jakarta Metropolitan Police stated that the investigation file for the acid attack case against Andrie Yunus had been handed over to the Military Police Centre.
Another petition signatory, Muhammad Isnur, assessed that the handover of the case was disappointing because the police stopped handling the case only at the field perpetrators.
Isnur continued that the handover of the case to the TNI Military Police Centre was also mistaken and legally flawed. The reason is that there is no regulation underpinning it and no memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this handover. “The investigation should have been handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office,” said the General Chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).
The Commander of the TNI Military Police Centre, Major General Yurni Nuryanto, and the Head of the TNI Headquarters Information Centre, Major General Aulia Dwi Nasrullah, have not yet responded to Tempo’s enquiry messages regarding the petition made by professors and civil society.
Meanwhile, a number of professors who signed the petition urging the handling of the Andrie Yunus case in the general court include Professor Sulistyowati Irianto; Zainal Arifin Mochtar; Todung Mulya Lubis; Muchamad Ali Safa’at; and Aan Eko Widiarto.
Then, Professor Ani Sucipto; Widodo Dwi Putro; Sukarmi; Mirza Satria Buana; Poltak Partogi Nainggolan; as well as dozens of academics such as Busyro Muqoddas; Herdiansyah Hamzah; Charles Simabura; to Herlambang Wiratraman.
Andrie Yunus was doused with corrosive chemical liquid on 12 March. The liquid thrown by TNI BAIS personnel damaged and injured the body of the Deputy Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
RSCM Legal Manager and Public Relations Yoga Nara said that in the coming week, Andrie will undergo further skin grafting to replace the dead skin area on the back of his neck.
In addition, Yoga recounted that Andrie had just undergone his third surgery on his right eye on 28 March 2026. During the surgery, it was found that the corneal surface was thinning further and there was a leak in the eyeball wall.