STPDN seniors get suspended jail terms
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Sumedang, West Java
The Sumedang District Court handed down on Tuesday the verdicts for 10 Public Administration Institute (STPDN) students, who were charged with assaulting their juniors during initiation for marching band earlier this year.
Three students -- Joshua Napitupulu, Budi Sukisna and Febrianto Borman -- received a suspended three-month sentence and one year probation.
The remaining seven students -- I Ketut Mahardika, Laode Ricki Nugraha, Muhamad Rizal, Heronimus C.H.R Ganwarin, Rudiantoro, Kenny Pieter Tupamahu and Alexander Sinuling -- were given a suspended three-month sentence and a probation period of six months.
The suspended jail terms mean the 10 students will not serve their three-months terms unless they commit a criminal offense within their allocated probation period.
The verdicts for the 10 were read out over seven hours in separate courtrooms by judges Parlis Nababan, Yapi and R.E. Setiawan.
The three judges concluded that the 10 defendants were guilty of beating and kicking their juniors during an initiation ceremony for marching band certificates at the STPDN campus in Jatinangor, Sumedang regency.
The incident occurred in June this year, but it made headlines across national media last month, when private television SCTV station broadcast video footage on the violence nationwide.
The 10 students were initially charged of violating Article 352 of the Criminal Code on assault, which carries a maximum sentence of nine months in jail.
The judges rebuked the students, saying that they, as the future leaders of the Indonesian bureaucracy, should not commit violence.
However, the judges only gave suspended sentences, on the grounds that the assault had been part of the STPDN culture.
Seven defendants accepted their verdicts, while the remaining three were considering appeals.
The students were seen looking happy after leaving court, and some of them were even seen posing for photographs in front of the court.
The Sumedang Prosecutor's Office is studying the dossiers of 21 other STPDN suspects who assaulted their juniors in three separate cases earlier this year, including the case that led to the death of Wahyu Hidayat.
Wahyu's death on Aug. 26, after being beaten by senior students, brought the institute and its culture of violence to public attention, and eventually led to the uncovering of other cases of assault and abuse.
The institute has a reputation for imposing a military style of discipline on its students.
The Prosecutor's Office expected to bring the three cases to court immediately.
Separately, the acting chairman of STPDN, I Nyoman Sumaryadi, said the institute would hold an executive meeting to discuss the administrative measures to be taken in regards the 31 students after the close of their trials.