Rules of evidence hamper efforts to tackle illegal logging
Rules of evidence hamper efforts to tackle illegal logging
Tony Hotland
Jakarta
The restriction on the types of evidence that are admissible in
court is one of the biggest obstacles facing the country in its
efforts to stamp out illegal logging, a senior policy advisor to
the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia says.
"The use of photographs in illegal logging cases should be at
least accepted by courts as evidence as many suspects have been
walking free due to a supposed lack of evidence," Agus Setyarso
told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday after opening a two-day workshop
on newly-drafted guidelines for tackling illegal logging.
The WWF, the Ministry of Forestry and the International
Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) have drafted various
guidelines for the government, law enforcement institutions, non-
governmental organizations and the public on how to stamp out
illegal logging.
"Or perhaps the courts should allow the use of video linkups
to hear witnesses, as they have been willing to do in other
recent cases," Agus said.
The Criminal Code recognizes only testimony given by
witnesses, experts and suspects in the courtroom, documents
written under oath, and clues indicating the commission of a
criminal act as admissible evidence.
Weak law enforcement has been blamed for rampant illegal
logging, with police involvement becoming increasingly evident,
as reported by NGO activists in many areas.
Agus asserted that it would take a long time to finally come
up with a group of clean individuals to take charge of the effort
to tackle illegal logging.
"That's why meetings between various components of society,
such as government officials, activists, courts, police and local
citizens are essential, so we can select trustworthy people to
participate at the bureaucracy level in ensuring the clean and
fair handling of illegal logging cases," he explained.
Other legal measures that could be taken, said Agus, included
extradition agreements with neighboring countries, such as
Malaysia, to provide certainty as regards the treatment of
suspects that had fled abroad.
"Most importantly, the government must start issuing the
necessary ancillary regulations for the implementation of Law No.
41/1999 on forestry so as to eliminate all possibility for
differing interpretations of the law and loopholes," explained
Agus.
The government is currently finalizing a regulation in lieu of
law on illegal logging, which is expected to be more effective in
bringing suspects to justice and deterring others from committing
such crimes.
The draft regulation stipulates a minimum three-year sentence
for convicted illegal loggers and a maximum sentence of death for
those found guilty of organizing such crimes.
Agus said the draft guidelines were not legally binding for
the time being, but quickly added that the draft could
subsequently be proposed for incorporation into a government
regulation.
The guidelines consist of six chapters regarding illegal
logging; regulation-making, prevention, detection and monitoring,
eradication, campaigning, and coordination between the parties
involved.