KPK: Novel Baswedan, The Victim Of Heavy Watering While Handling A Major Corruption Case

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said that the case of pouring hard water on investigators, Novel Baswedan, tested the justice and conscience of law enforcers.

This was conveyed in response to the demand for one year in prison to the defendant in this case, Ronny Bugis.

"The Novel Baswedan case is a test for our sense of justice and conscience as law enforcers. Because there are actually law enforcers, KPK employees who became victims when he was handling a major corruption case at that time," said Acting KPK spokesman for prosecution Ali Fikri through a statement. he wrote, Friday, June 12.

This anti-graft agency also heard that many parties regretted the prosecutors' demands that were not optimal. Ali said that his party also understood the reasons for Novel's disappointment as a victim when he heard the demands.

So, he hoped, the panel of judges could give a verdict commensurate with the action of the defendant who poured hard water on the investigator.

"The KPK hopes that the panel of judges will decide as fairly as possible by imposing a maximum sentence in accordance with the mistakes and actions that are proven later, as well as considering the sense of public justice, including Novel Baswedan's position as a victim when carrying out his duties in handling corruption cases," he said.

Ali said that the case of pouring hard water on investigators is expected to be able to open the eyes of all parties regarding the protection of law enforcers while carrying out their duties.

"We reiterate the importance of protection for law enforcers in carrying out their duties," he said.

The head of the KPK Employees Forum Yudi Purnomo Harahap also spoke about the low charges against Ronny Bugis. This demand caused disappointment in the community.

Because of the low demands, he questioned President Joko Widodo's commitment to supporting corruption eradication.

The reason was that the process of resolving this case was slow and did not provide justice for the victims. "And it shows the lack of support for the eradication of corruption," said Yudi.

This demand, continued Yudi, also had implications for fighting corruption in the future. First, this case resulted in unprotected work to eradicate corruption.

Given that the attack on Novel Baswedan cannot be considered an individual attack. Moreover, the Novel Baswedan Case Monitoring Team which was formed by the National Commission on Human Rights (HAM) clearly stated that the attack occurred because of Novel's work.

"For this reason, this low demand will make terrorists who intend to interfere with corruption eradication feel no fear of duplicating or repeating acts of terror against employees and even KPK leaders," he said.

Furthermore, these demands have an impact on the failure to fulfill guarantees of human rights protection and ignore the findings of official state institutions. Moreover, in the law enforcement process, the Komnas HAM report was not presented in its entirety in the trial evidence process.

Finally, this case results in the absence of accountability from intellectual actors. Moreover, based on the Komnas HAM report, this attack was a planned and systematic action involving undisclosed parties.

"The action allegedly involved parties who acted as planners, scouts, and perpetrators of violence. Trials that do not open the way to systematic attacks and the low number of punishments have the potential to make intellectual perpetrators not be held accountable," he said.

So that, due to the existing impact, the KPK Employee Body asked the panel of judges not to ignore the facts in the assault case. Including the letter sent by Novel regarding the incident.

Yudi also asked the President to form an independent team and ordered a comprehensive examination of the suspicion that the law enforcement process was not running according to procedure. Including looking for intellectual actors in the attack.

Previously, the defendants Ronny Bugis and Rahmat Kadir Mahulette in the case of violent water attacks on KPK investigator Novel Baswedan were 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.