Prosecutor to Consider Cassation After ABK Fandi Escapes Death Penalty

Sea Dragon crew member Fandi Ramadhan was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in a case involving drug smuggling weighing almost 2 tonnes.

The judge found Fandi Ramadhan proven beyond reasonable doubt to have committed the offence of criminal conspiracy without a lawful right or excuse, acting as an intermediary in the sale and purchase of Class I narcotics in non-plant form whose weight exceeded 5 grams as charged in the principal indictment by the public prosecutor. However, the judge imposed a punishment far lighter than the prosecution’s demand that he be sentenced to death.

The Kejati Kepri Public Relations Officer, Senopati, in a written statement received by CNN Indonesia on Friday (6 March), said the prosecutor is still considering filing cassation against the verdict, which is far below the charge.

‘That, as per the difference in penalties handed down by the panel of judges in this case, the Public Prosecutor states it will be considered,’ he said.

One of the considerations, he said, would be to follow up the conclusions from the Hearing Meeting (RDP) at Commission III of the DPR on 26 February.

Regarding that meeting’s recommendations, Senopati said the Deputy Attorney General for Supervision of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia has worked in synergy with the High Prosecutor’s Office of the Riau Islands to question one member of the prosecution team, M Alfian.

In that inquiry, Alfian was found guilty and given a disciplinary punishment in the form of a written reprimand.

Senopati said that in the criminal matter, the verdict is in line with the prosecutors’ indictment against the defendant in the drug-smuggling case totalling 2 tonnes on the Sea Dragon tanker.

He said the panel had obtained conviction based on evidence and the sequence of testimony in the trial that the offence indeed occurred. Furthermore, the defendant was found guilty as charged, based on the facts disclosed during the proceedings.

He said the sentence of the panel accords with the considerations of the Public Prosecutor’s Indictment, which stated that the defendant Fandi is an ABK of the vessel who, together with other defendants, participated in the crime of narcotics trafficking.

‘This is in line with the considerations set out in the Public Prosecutor’s Indictment read earlier,’ he added.

Earlier in the verdict-reading session, the judge said the indictment seeking the death penalty for Fandi was not proven by the trial facts. In the operative part, the judge stated the penalty imposed on Fandi was fair and commensurate with the offence.

The judge noted aggravating circumstances: the quantity of narcotics totalling almost 2 tonnes of methamphetamine; if circulated in Indonesia, it could damage the future of the nation’s youth. The defendant did not support government programmes to combat illicit drug trafficking.

Mitigating factors included the defendant’s courteous behaviour during the trial, no prior criminal record, and remaining youth, offering hope for rehabilitation.

The sentence is lighter than the prosecution’s demand. Previously, the prosecution sought the death penalty for Fandi Ramadhan in the case.

In this matter, Fandi was charged with jointly committing or conspiring to unlawfully offer for sale, sell, buy, receive, act as an intermediary in sale and purchase, exchange, or hand over Class I narcotics not in plant form weighing more than 5 grams.

He was also charged jointly with attempting or conspiring to unlawfully possess, store, control, or supply Class I narcotics not in plant form weighing more than 5 grams.