Novel Baswedan: Trial Assault Against Me Is Just A Formality

JAKARTA - The defendant Ronny Bugis in the hard water attack case against KPK investigator Novel Baswedan has been sentenced to one year in prison. The prosecutor assessed that the defendant Ronny was proven guilty of assaulting Novel.

During the trial, the prosecutor believed Ronny was guilty of violating Article 353 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code.

The prosecutor considered that there were several things that were burdensome for Ronny. He is considered to have injured the National Police institution. Meanwhile, things that mitigate him are considered to be polite during the trial and serve at the Police institution.

In their deliberation, the prosecutor said that the defendants Ronny and Rahmat were proven to have committed serious maltreatment in a planned manner. Because before carrying out the action, the two defendants were proven to have carried out monitoring at Novel's house.

"That was true that the witness (Rahmat) and the defendant were on the edge of the river for 10 to 15 minutes while looking at Novel's house and the witness saw Novel walking to the mosque and soon there were women walking out of the alley," said the prosecutor while reading out the indictment at the North Jakarta District Court, Thursday, June 11th.

"Then witness Rahmat Kadir ran his motorbike and approached Novel when the witness walked and poured sulfuric acid onto the victim's body, and the victim fell," he added.

Through his Twitter account, Novel Baswedan responded to this trial. He considered the watering case trial against him as just a formality.

"Today we see, what I said that the trial of the attack against me was just a formality. It proves the perception that you want to form and the perpetrator is lightly punished," wrote Novel on his Twitter @nazaqistsha.

Today we will see what I have to say that my attack trial is just a formality. Proving the perception that the perpetrator wanted to form a light sentence The defendant in Novel Baswedan, Ronny Bugis, was sentenced to 1 year in prison. Https://t.co/MYnXvfnynr

- novel baswedan (@nazaqistsha) June 11, 2020

It was too much, mmg ... daily tasked with eradicating the legal mafia with the Corruption Act ... but being a victim of this funny practice .. lower than an insulting person ... sir @jokowi, congratulations on the achievements of the apparatus, sir. Awesome ... https://t.co/quw3dX6opA

- novel baswedan (@nazaqistsha) June 11, 2020

Meanwhile, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Kurnia Ramadhana assessed that the alleged legal skits in this case actually happened. He considered that this demand was not only very low, but embarrassing and not taking sides with the victim.

"Moreover, this is a brutal attack on KPK investigators who have been involved in efforts to eradicate corruption. Instead of being able to reveal the true facts, prosecution cannot be separated from the interests of the corruption and violence mafia elite," said Kurnia in his written statement.

Kurnia assessed that many irregularities were seen in this trial. There are several notes of discrepancies he gave. First, the indictment in this case seems to try to deny the incident.

"The prosecutor only charged the defendant with Article 351 and Article 355 of the Criminal Code related to persecution. In fact, the incident that happened to Novel could have the potential to cause bad consequences, namely death," he said.

"So the prosecutor must charge using Article 340 of the Criminal Code concerning premeditated murder," added this anti-corruption activist.

Second, Kurnia considered that the witnesses presented were not important. According to him, there were at least three witnesses who could have been presented at court to explain the case. The three witnesses, he continued, had also been questioned by investigators from the National Police, Komnas HAM, and the fact-finding team formed by the Police.

However, he said, the prosecutor seemed to think the testimony of the three was insignificant so that they were not presented at trial. The prosecutor, he added, seemed to want to cover this case from the real facts.

Furthermore, Kurnia assessed that the prosecutors also seemed to be defending the defendants. This can be seen from the demands given to Ronny Bugis.

Apart from that, in the trial that presented Novel Baswedan, the prosecutor also asked questions that cornered him. In fact, the prosecuting attorney should see this incident in its entirety, not just make the case more murky.

Finally, Kurnia said that this trial was not only for justice. The legal process that has been running so far, he said, has only been used to protect the perpetrators by providing modest punishments so that their intellectual actors can be covered up.

He considered that this trial also ignored the facts of the systematic planning of the killings and there was an effort to provide legal assistance from the Police to the perpetrators.

"In fact, it is clear according to Article 13 paragraph 2 of Government Regulation Number 3 of 2003 that legal assistance can only be carried out when the alleged action is related to duty interests," he said.

So, Kurnia, who joined the Novel's advocacy team, hopes that the Panel of Judges will not be caught up in this legal drama and must look at the real facts.

He also asked President Joko Widodo to pay more attention to this case. "Novel Baswedan's advocacy team demanded President Jokowi to open the veil of this legal play by forming an independent fact-finding team," he said.

In addition, Kurnia also asked the Prosecutor's Commission to follow up on the notes from Novel Baswedan's advocacy team.

"The Prosecutor's Commission must follow up on these findings by examining the Public Prosecutor in the attack on Novel Baswedan," he concluded.