To save justice
To save justice
Noted jurists, human rights activists and the general public
alike united on Monday to express their joy after public
prosecutors in Bantul, Yogyakarta province, bravely demonstrated
their determination to defend justice.
The prosecutors, in a rare show of courage, dropped the case
against an innocent citizen accused of murdering a journalist
last year. They also called on the Bantul District Court, which
heard the controversial case, to free him of all charges as there
was insufficient evidence to sentence him.
Standing trial was Dwi Sumadji, alias Iwik, whose case sent
shock waves throughout the nation. From the early days of the
police investigation, most thinking people had come to believe
that this driver for a small advertising agency had been made the
victim of some dirty business to protect the real culprit.
The murder of the Bernas daily journalist came after the
paper carried his report on corrupt practices at the local
regency administration. The Indonesian Journalists Association
believes that the murder was related to the report.
During the trial the Bantul court heard how a police officer
allegedly made up charges and pressed them on Iwik using improper
methods to trap the suspect in order to save an official of the
regency. The police also reportedly resorted to inhumane tactics
to extract the "confessions" they wanted from Iwik.
The public was at a loss as to how this could have happened in
a country which respects the principles of humanitarianism and
human rights. And what had happened to our principles of
presumption of innocence and equal justice before the law?
However, the loud applause of experts and human rights
activists in greeting this surprising turn of events shows how
weak we have been in upholding justice and opposing abuse of
power.
If the prosecutors had been this courageous from the
beginning, this parody of justice would not have progressed so
far. The question now is how many other people have been
unlawfully jailed? For sure it is not only Sengkon and Karta, two
villagers from the outskirts of Jakarta, who although they
maintained their innocence, were jailed for years for murder two
decades ago, until they themselves found the real murderer who
was serving a jail term for another offense in the same prison in
Cipinang, East Jakarta. Had the prosecutors not decided to make a
stand, Iwik might have been executed by firing squad for
premeditated murder.
The Bantul court will soon hand down a verdict on Iwik's
case. But after the prosecutors' request Monday, many experts are
convinced that the panel of judges will agree with the
prosecutors' conclusion and free the poor villager.
Does that mean that the case is closed? The answer is of
course no because the people are dissatisfied with the
investigation and are concerned about possible manipulation and
irregularities.
The experts, who praised the prosecutors exemplary valor, have
urged the authorities to send any police officer found to be
involved in coercion and brutality to court for trial because
nobody is above the law. The trial is important not only to
uncover the reason why the police tried to victimize an innocent
citizen, but also who ordered them to do so.
The court also needs to hear why an official said that the
regent of Bantul would reward Iwik if he confessed to the murder.
Meanwhile experienced lawyers have also said that they believe
that police-engineering of the charges was not mere carelessness,
but was well-planned.
However, despite the prosecutors' bold action, we believe the
nation can now expect the Yogyakarta journalist's murder to
remain a dark case, just like that of Marsinah, a labor activist,
who was brutally murdered in East Java in 1993. There are still
people around us who dictate the law.