Kababinkum: TNI Can Give Legal Aid To Soldiers And Their Families

Head of the TNI Legal Development Agency (Kababinkum) Rear Admiral TNI Kresno Buntoro said that TNI legal officers can provide legal assistance to soldiers, student soldiers, civil servants in the TNI and their family members.

This is regulated in Article 27 of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia (UUD 1945), then Article 69 of Law Number 8 of 1981 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code, Article 105, Article 215, and Article 216 of Law Number 31 of 1997 concerning Military Courts.

Then Article 50 paragraph (2) and paragraph (3) of Law Number 34 of 2004 concerning the TNI, and Article 56 of Law Number 48 of 2009 concerning Judicial Power, and Article 1 of Law Number 11 of 2011 concerning Legal Aid.

"Article 50 paragraph (2), especially letter f (UU TNI) there, it is stated that soldiers and student soldiers receive treatment and official services which include income, and so on, and letter f legal assistance. Then Article 50 paragraph (3) of the TNI Law states that the soldiers' families receive official care which includes health care, mental and religious guidance, (poin) c legal assistance so that families, soldiers and their families have the right to receive legal assistance (from the TNI)," said Laksda Kresno during a press conference at TNI Headquarters, Jakarta. reported by ANTARA, Thursday, August 10.

The regulation was then followed up in the Guidelines for the Implementation of Legal Aid within the TNI which was ratified by the Decree of the Commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces Number KEP/1089/XII/2017. In the implementing regulation, there are provisions related to application procedures and the provision of legal assistance, then also regulate the scope of members of the soldiers' families who can ask the TNI for legal assistance.

Head of the TNI Information Center (Kapuspen) Rear Admiral TNI Julius Widjojono, at the same press conference, mentioned family members who can ask for legal assistance, namely the wives/husbands of TNI soldiers and TNI civil servants, children, widows/dudas, parents, in-laws, and siblings/paras, as well as the nephews of soldiers/PNS TNI.

Regarding the case of Major Dedi Hasibuan at the Medan Polrestabes, Kababinkum explained that there were procedures that were not passed by the middle-ranking TNI officer.

"There have been procedural errors in providing legal assistance, especially the procedures and mechanisms for providing legal assistance," said the Head of the Indonesian National Armed Forces.

Meanwhile, Danpuspom TNI, also mentioned that Major Dedi's legal assistance to his nephew Ahmad Rosyid Hasibuan (ARH), a suspect in the case of forgery of land certificate signatures at the Medan Polrestabes, had no urgency with official.

Therefore, Major Dedi, whose name went viral after visiting the Medan Polrestabes Headquarters last Saturday (5/8) along with 13 other TNI soldiers, continued to undergo examination at the Indonesian Army Military Police Center (Puspomad) as of Thursday.

Major Dedi, who is an Army soldier at the Barisan Military Regional Command I/Bukit, previously underwent an examination at the TNI Military Police Center (Puspom), Wednesday. Danpuspom said he was examined by the TNI Puspom for 8 hours from 09.00 WIB to 17.00 WIB.

Later, the Danpuspom TNI will determine what violations Major Dedi committed, referring to the results of the examination and development of the case.

However, the Commander of the Central Military Police (Danpuspom) TNI Marshal Muda TNI Agung Handoko believes that at least Major Dedi will be subject to disciplinary sanctions.

"We guarantee that whoever is involved there (Medan Police, ed.) if there is no criminal element from the incident, we will ensure that those there will definitely be subject to disciplinary punishment," said Danpuspom TNI.

He explained that disciplinary violations may have occurred because there were indications of a show of force from Major Dedi Hasibuan and other TNI soldiers when they came to the Medan Polrestabes Headquarters. The reason is, they came together on a holiday to the Medan Polrestabes Headquarters wearing green striped official clothes.

"(The action) can be suspected, or coordinated, is an effort to show of force to Medan Polrestabes investigators to try to influence the ongoing legal process," said Agung Handoko.

Major Dedi and his entourage came to the Medan Polrestabes Headquarters to inquire about the follow-up to the request for a suspension of detention of Ahmad Rosyid Hasibuan to the Head of the Medan Police Criminal Investigation Unit (Kasat Reskrim).

The reason is, the official at the Medan Polrestabes had rejected Dedi's request to suspend ARH's detention. Major Dedi submitted the request armed with a letter from the Head of Law for Kodam I/Bukit Barisan.