Supreme Court chief tells courts not to put journalists behind bars
Supreme Court chief tells courts not to put journalists behind bars
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Chief Justice Bagir Manan has given a directive to judges across
the country to fine, not imprison, any journalist found guilty in
a criminal case related to a press dispute.
During a recent Supreme Court national working meeting, he
said that punishment in press disputes "must not in anyway
interfere with media activities".
The meeting was attended by the Supreme Court leadership as
well as top judges from across the country.
However, Bagir said criminal charges against media outfits
were still applicable despite calls from some journalists for the
courts to use the Press Law, instead of the Criminal Code, in
hearing media disputes.
"Media that use their freedom wantonly must be considered a
threat to the press and growing democracy in general. For us in
Indonesia, criminal charges in media disputes are still
necessary," he said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Bagir mentioned as an example a series of media reports
involving his office that he considered unbalanced and
inaccurate.
He also questioned suggestions from the media for courts to
use the Press Law in hearing media disputes.
"It is weird as courts only hear cases submitted by
prosecutors, who draw up the indictments," Bagir said.
Indonesian courts have jailed a number of journalists in the
past. The latest case occurred in May when two journalists from
Lampung were jailed for nine months for libeling Alzier Dianis
Thabranie, the leader of Golkar Party's Lampung chapter.
The case surfaced last year as the Koridor weekly tabloid,
which the two journalists work for, ran a story on vote-buying in
Lampung during the first round of the presidential election last
year.
The Jakarta High Court also upheld in April a decision by a
lower court sentencing Bambang Harymurti, the chief editor of
Tempo weekly newsmagazine, to one year in jail for libeling
business tycoon Tommy Winata.
The verdicts, combined with the government's controversial
draft of the Criminal Code that contains 49 articles deemed
harmful to freedom of expression, have prompted several media
observers to warn that the country's press freedom was under
attack.