Coordinating Minister Yusril Verifies Ammar Zoni's Testimony Regarding Alleged Extortion in Prison
JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra admitted that he was still verifying information from defendant Ammar Zoni in his testimony at the trial regarding the existence of bribery in the correctional institution.
According to him, sometimes there are many reports from social media that are noisy and viral, but after being checked the actual incident is different.
"Every report we receive, we analyze, we delve into, and we cross-check its truth. So I think reports from anywhere we look at, we study," said Yusril as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, January 28.
Yusril thanked the report on the prison conditions that had been given, both directly and through social media.
Even so, he said, his party still has an obligation to verify and re-check the information in various social media and official media reports so as not to be mistaken in taking action.
During the examination of the defendant at the Central Jakarta District Court, Thursday (8/1), celebrity Ammar Zoni revealed extortion in the prison where he was detained.
He claimed to have been asked for money worth Rp300 million and also to bear the cost of nine other people, so a total of Rp3 billion. Even so, he refused to give the money.
In this case, Ammar Zoni and his friends were charged with distributing narcotics inside the Salemba Detention Center, Central Jakarta, in December 2024.
The defendants are suspected of committing the crime of conspiracy without right or against the law to sell and buy narcotics.
The defendants involved in the circulation of narcotics at the Salemba Detention Center are six people, namely Asep Sarikin, Ardian Prasetyo, Andi Mualim alias Ko Andi, Ade Candra, Muhammad Rifaldi, and Muhammad Amar Akbar (Ammar Zoni).
Thus, the actions of the defendants are regulated and threatened with criminal punishment in Article 112 paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 132 paragraph (1) of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics.