Highlighting Mardani Maming's Case, Todung Mulya Lubis: Judge Performs Cherry Pick Against Evidence

Human rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis said that the criminal offense against the former Regent of Tanah Bumbu, South Kalimantan for the 2010-2015 and 2016-2018 periods was forced because it was not based on adequate evidence.

Todung said this was a miscarriage of justice because the fair trial rights were not fulfilled.

"The judge carried out a tandem pick on the evidence presented during the trial. The judge preferred to consider the testimony of an indirect witness (testimonium de auditu) because it was in accordance with the indictment of the public prosecutor, rather than considering other evidence stating the opposite," said Todung in an electronic message received in Jakarta some time ago.

This one-sided attitude is clearly an unfair trial. If the existing evidence is seen fairly, the public prosecutor's indictment is not proven," continued Todung.

Todung explained that the judge imposed legal construction in legal events to conclude the fulfillment of elements in Article 12 letter b of Law no. 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law no. 20 of 2001.

The most visible formulation of legal construction is making profit and distribution of business results a gift. By stating that the profit from the results of the business is the same as giving gifts, the judge is actually making an analogy.

"In fact, analogy is a serious violation of the principle of legality which is the most basic principle in criminal law," said Todung.

"Corruption is indeed a serious problem for this nation. However, it does not mean that the handling can be done haphazardly. When there is a miscarriage of justice in handling cases including corruption cases, the defendant should be declared free," said Todung.

Todung added that corrective steps are a necessity. Indonesia does not know such retrial steps in the UK. However, the existence of a review agency can be an option to make this correction," explained Todung.

Specifically in Maming's case, he hopes that the Supreme Court in the review process can really highlight the miscarriage of justice that occurred and correct it. Todong will prepare an amicus crime regarding this case for me to send it to the Supreme Court next week.