Tiger Traffickers In Aceh Charged 4.5 Years
JAKARTA - The East Aceh Public Prosecutor (JPU) has charged four defendants with trafficking tiger skins and protected animal body parts, each for four years and six months in prison.
Prosecutors read out the demands, Fajar Adi Putra and Wahyu, at the online trial at the Idi District Court, East Aceh District, reported by Antara, Tuesday, September 22.
The four defendants are Adi bin Alm Basari (47) and Mat Rahim bin Alm Kasim (43), both residents of Gayo Lues Regency, Aceh. Then Sapta bin Salim (44) and M Daud bin Saudin, both residents of East Aceh Regency.
The defendants attended the trial virtually or online from the Idi Class II B Penitentiary (Lapsa), East Aceh, where they had been detained.
The prosecutor stated that the defendants were legally and convincingly proven guilty of the criminal act of trafficking, keeping or possessing skins, bodies or other parts of protected animals.
The defendants, said the prosecutor, were guilty of violating Article 40 paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 21 paragraph (2) letter d of Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 5 of 1990 concerning the conservation of natural data sources and their ecosystem in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 Criminal Code.
"(Demanding that the panel of judges) sentence the four defendants to a reduced prison sentence of four years and six months while the defendant is in detention," said Prosecutor Fajar Adi Putra.
Apart from imprisonment, the prosecutor from the East Aceh District Attorney also demanded that the four defendants pay Rp. 100 million each, a subsidiary of six months in prison.
Meanwhile, the evidence in the form of a wet tiger skin, four tiger fangs and bones, four sun bear fangs and 20 sun bears were entrusted to the Aceh Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA).
The four suspects were arrested by personnel from the Aceh Police Special Criminal Investigation Directorate at the Lhoknibong gas station, East Aceh, on Wednesday (17/6/2020). Together with the suspect, the protected animal section was also secured.