Yesterday's Legal News: Child Abuse in Maluku to Asset Forfeiture Bill
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Various legal developments on Sunday (22/2) drew public attention, ranging from Yusril’s statement that a mobile brigade officer who abused a child in Maluku must face ethical and criminal proceedings, to the KPK’s support for the deliberation of the Asset Forfeiture Bill by the government and House of Representatives.
The following is ANTARA’s roundup of noteworthy legal news from yesterday:
1. Yusril: Mobile Brigade Officer Who Abused Child in Maluku Must Face Ethical and Criminal Proceedings
Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that First Class Private MS, a mobile brigade (Brimob) member alleged to have abused a child to death in Tual, Maluku, must be brought before an ethics hearing and tried in criminal court.
“In principle, in this rule-of-law state, no one is above the law. Law enforcement officers must also be punished if they break the law,” Yusril said in an official statement received in Jakarta on Sunday.
Yusril expressed deep sorrow over the death of the victim, AT (14), in the incident. He strongly deplored the event that claimed the life of the Islamic junior secondary school (MTs) student.
2. House of Representatives Pledges to Oversee Case of Child Killed by Stepmother in Sukabumi
Chairman of Commission III of the House of Representatives Habiburokhman confirmed that his commission would oversee the case of NS (12), a child who died allegedly from abuse by her stepmother in Sukabumi, West Java.
He stressed that Commission III condemned the case and recommended that the Sukabumi Police charge the perpetrator under Article 76C in conjunction with Article 80 of Law Number 35 of 2014 on Child Protection.
“The maximum sentence is 15 years’ imprisonment,” Habiburokhman said in Jakarta on Sunday.
3. Young Police Officer Dies in Suspected Hazing in Makassar
A young police officer with the rank of First Class Private, identified by the initials DP, was reported dead in a suspected case of abuse by senior officers inside the Police Dormitory (Aspol) at the South Sulawesi Regional Police (Polda) headquarters complex on Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan, Makassar.
“We cannot yet confirm whether the victim was beaten by a group or not, but we have certainly examined six individuals including DP’s peers and seniors. More may be questioned later,” said Head of the Professional and Security Division of South Sulawesi Regional Police, Commissioner Zulham Effendi, to reporters in Makassar on Sunday.
4. Police Arrest Rifaldo, Suspect in Human Trafficking and Online Fraud in Cambodia
A joint team from the Indonesian National Police arrested Interpol fugitive Rifaldo Aquiono Pontoh, an Indonesian citizen alleged to have been involved in human trafficking and international online fraud networks in Cambodia.
Head of the Transnational Crime Division of the International Relations Division of the National Police, Commissioner Ricky Purnama, explained in a statement received in Jakarta on Sunday that Rifaldo was arrested on Saturday (21/2) at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.
“The joint National Police team comprising personnel from the NCB Interpol Indonesia Secretariat, the General Crimes Directorate of Jakarta Metropolitan Police, and Ngurah Rai Airport Police, together with Ngurah Rai Airport Immigration, successfully apprehended the Interpol red notice subject, Indonesian citizen Rifaldo Aquiono Pontoh,” he said.
5. KPK Supports Deliberation of Asset Forfeiture Bill by Government and Parliament
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) declared its support for the deliberation of the Draft Law on Asset Forfeiture by the government and the House of Representatives.
“The presence of this regulation will be a strategic step forward in strengthening the legal framework for combating corruption, particularly to ensure the optimisation of state financial loss recovery,” said KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo to journalists in Jakarta on Sunday.
He explained that the KPK supports the Asset Forfeiture Bill because in the anti-corruption body’s law enforcement practice, the focus has not only been on imposing custodial sentences on corruption offenders but also on recovering state financial losses as an integral part of the criminal justice system.