Determination Of The Suspect Rizieq Shihab Is Considered Odd, Lawyer: Not Once Examined

JAKARTA - Rizieq Shihab's team of lawyers said there was an error in the determination of the suspect against his client in the case of alleged sedition and crowds during his daughter's wedding in Petamburan, Central Jakarta. This is because Rizieq Shihab has not even been questioned but was immediately named a suspect.

"Before being declared a suspect, the applicant has never been examined as a witness once, other witnesses summoned, especially from the FPI DPP, have never given testimony as witnesses before the petitioner," said a member of Rizieq's lawyer team, Muhammad Kamil Pasha during the trial. Rizieq Shihab's pretrial at the South Jakarta District Court, Monday, January 4.

Referring to the case handling process, Rizieq's summons for examination were submitted two days before the time of examination. Supposedly, the summons were received at least three days before the examination.

"Between receiving the summons and the day the person is required to fulfill the summons, which is delivered no later than 3 days before the specified date of attendance," said Kamil.

According to him, when giving a summons for examination, the officers did not directly meet Rizieq Shihab. But if referring to Article 227 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the letter must be received directly by the party summoned.

So, said Kamil, it could be said that the summoning process was considered invalid. In other words, there was never a summons for investigation against Rizieq Shihab.

"This has the consequence that the first summons are considered invalid, or in other words never existed, so that the next summons should be considered as the first summons, so the applicant must be considered to have received the summons as witnesses only once," he said.

Even during the summons for examination, Rizieq, through his attorney, had sent an official statement of absence. At that time, Rizieq was said to be still in the process of recovering his health.

"The team of attorneys came to Respondent I to send a notification letter that the applicant could not attend. Respondent I should have rescheduled the examination time or made a new summons, instead of determining the applicant as a suspect," said Kamil.

In addition, Rizieq Shihab submitted a pretrial application to challenge the determination of the suspect in a crowd case and a violation of the health protocol (prokes) in Petamburan, Jakarta.

Rizieq Shihab's pretrial lawsuit has been registered with number 150 / Pid.Pra / 2020 / PN South Jakarta, dated December 15.

Rizieq Shihab was named a suspect in the case of alleged crowd and health protocol violations, on Thursday, December 10. Not only Rizieq, in that case, the police also named five other suspects.

Rizieq was charged with Articles 160 of the Criminal Code and 216 of the Criminal Code. Meanwhile, the other suspect was charged with Article 93 of Law Number 6 of 2018 concerning Health Quarantine. Rizieq has been detained since 12 December. Rizieq is currently in a drug detention cell at Polda Metro Jaya.