Jumhur Hidayat Files An Appeal To The Jakarta High Court

JAKARTA - Labor activist Jumhur Hidayat has appealed the decision of the South Jakarta District Court which sentenced him to 10 months in prison to the Jakarta High Court.

"We filed an appeal yesterday (17/11)," said Oky Wiratama, the Coordinator of the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD).

TAUD is Jumhur's legal team consisting of public lawyers from LBH Jakarta and Lokataru.

Oky explained that during the TAUD appeal he was still accompanying Jumhur Hidayat as a legal advisor.

Oky, when asked about the considerations for filing an appeal, confirmed that he had not been able to convey the contents of the memorandum of appeal against the decision of the South Jakarta District Court.

"I can't convey the considerations here, because I haven't made a memorandum of appeal yet, it's still just a deed of appeal," he explained.

Despite his appeal, Jumhur is still serving his sentence under house arrest as ordered by the panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court last week.

The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court last week sentenced Jumhur to 10 months in prison, but he does not need to be locked up in prison, one of which is because of health problems.

Jumhur has been locked up in the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police, Jakarta for approximately 7 months. Thus, the remaining 3 months of his sentence.

After hearing the judge's decision, Jumhur, who was met outside the courtroom last week, said he was not satisfied with the judge's decision. He hopes to be free purely, because his upload on his personal Twitter account is a criticism of the policy.

Jumhur was dragged into a criminal case after he uploaded a tweet in October 2020 criticizing the Omnibus Law on Job Creation.

Jumhur's tweet that became the source of the prosecutor's indictment and the judge's decision: “This law is for PRIMITIVE INVESTORS from China and GREEDY ENTREPRENEURS. If CIVILIZED INVESTORS are as follows: 35 Foreign Investors Express Their Distress towards the Ratification of the Job Creation Law. Click to read: kmp.im/AGA6m2”.

The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court is of the opinion that Jumhur is guilty of violating Article 15 of Law Number 1/1946 concerning the Criminal Code. The verdict is the result of an examination of the elements of the indictment, which are subsidiary to the prosecutor.

For Jumhur and his legal team, this article is a threat to democracy and freedom of expression in Indonesia.