Understanding Doctor Richard Lee's Arrest: What Goes Wrong And What Are Our Rights When Arrested By Police?

JAKARTA - A beauty doctor and YouTuber, Richard Lee, was arrested by the police. This arrest was highlighted. Another momentum to look back on our rights as citizens when dealing with the law. What is the procedure for arresting by the police and what are our rights as citizens?

Richard Lee was arrested on Wednesday, August 11 at his home in Palembang, South Sumatra. Richard Lee's attorney, Razman Arif Nasution, stated that he did not accept Richard Lee's forced pick-up.

First, he thinks there is a lack of clarity in Richard Lee's legal status. Razman admitted that Richard Lee had become a suspect in the violation of the ITE Law for reporting on a celebrity, Kartika Putri.

Richard Lee was charged with defamation for content reviewing beauty products. But according to Razman, Richard Lee's suspect status was only known later. In addition, the arrest of Richard Lee was also considered hasty.

"My client is not a suspect (initially). There has been no notification of the suspect, neither to me nor to my client," said Razman on Instagram @razmannasution quoted Thursday, August 12.

"Suddenly brought to mention this letter, mentioning the suspect's letter. Here it is signed by the Dirkrimsus. Immediately, this yellow letter is the suspect, where is the white? Please let me know," Razman reacted while showing the yellow letter.

"Just now (while showing the letter) and here is also an arrest warrant for 11-12 months 8, 2021, as if in a hurry. I don't understand," Razman protested.

Richard Lee himself is said to have also filed a report against Kartika Putri to the South Sumatra Police. Richard Lee reported Kartika Putri on charges of violating the same law: UU ITE.

The latest news, Thursday afternoon, August 12, the police actually denied the arrest of Richard Lee related to the case of good pollution reported by Kartika Putri. According to the police, Richard Lee was arrested for illegal access to the Instagram account @dr.richard_lee whose position is being confiscated by the court.

The confiscation of the Instagram account @dr.richard_lee said the police were carried out to investigate the case of defamation of Kartika Putri. The police also said they were still seeking mediation between the two parties. The subject of confiscation in this case includes email, password, and user ID.

Meanwhile, illegal access to the @dr.richard_lee Instagram account is said to have been carried out by the Doctor to fulfill endorsement cooperation. Richard Lee himself has been named a suspect in Article 30 in conjunction with the ITE Law and Article 231 of the Criminal Code and or Article 221 of the Criminal Code.

"There was illegal access and theft by someone. Then the investigators conducted an investigation and fingerprinting."

"Based on the investigation, it turns out that the illegal access and account theft in the investigator's barrack was carried out by RL himself," said the Head of Public Relations of the Metro Jaya Police, Kombes Yusri Yunus, to reporters.

Director of the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBHM) Muhammad Afif highlighted several things from Richard Lee's arrest. The first is about the administration of arrests. According to Afif, the police must at least have two pieces of evidence and present it to Richard Lee.

In addition, "the administration of the arrest also needs to be informed to the arrested person or his family or lawyer. If this is not done, it can be arbitrary. Doctor Richard's case is not caught red-handed," Afif told VOI, Thursday, August 12.

Then regarding the basis of Richard Lee's arrest. According to Afif, there are irregularities in the context of this case. The first is the Richard Lee case, which is said to be unrelated to Kartika Putri's defamation. "So it's strange that this case stands alone because it looks forced."

It's also about the police who conceded guarding confiscated evidence. Afif questioned the function of investigators' supervision of evidence. This could backfire on the police. "The matter of missing powder is strange. Where is the investigator's supervision? It is important to ask the investigator about this as well."

The police themselves claim that Richard Lee's arrest was in accordance with procedure. Head of the Cyber Sub-Directorate of the Ditreskrimsus Polda Metro Jaya Kompol Rovan Richard Mahenu said the excitement occurred because the police responded to their attitude against Richard Lee, who refused to be arrested.

"At that time, Brother R refused to join the investigators voluntarily, so at 12.00 WIB the investigators made a forced effort to arrest Brother R," Rovan told reporters, Thursday, August 12.

Rovan also said investigators included an arrest warrant and met other operational standards in arrests. "Our members at 7 am had entered brother R's house and were followed by local security and members of the police."

"Then (the investigator) explained related to the case being investigated, namely about illegal access and eliminating evidence," said Rovan.

Basically an arrest is a temporary restraint on the freedom of a suspect or defendant by investigators. A person can only be arrested on condition that there is sufficient evidence. Arrests must also be made for the purposes of investigation or prosecution and/or trial.

This is regulated in the Criminal Procedure Code. M. Yahya, in the book Discussion of Problems and Application of the Criminal Procedure Code: Investigation and Prosecution explains the reasons for the arrests implied in Article 17 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Those arrested were "a person strongly suspected of committing a criminal offence."

Then, as explained, the allegation must be based on sufficient preliminary evidence. The phrase "sufficient preliminary evidence" has been questioned. The Constitutional Court (MK), through its decision numbered 21/PUU-XII/2014 said that the phrase was contrary to the 1945 Constitution.

The Constitutional Court also decided that the phrase had no binding legal force as long as it was not interpreted as "at least two pieces of evidence", as stipulated in Article 184 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Yahya, still in the same book, also explains that investigators - in this case members of the National Police - are prohibited from arresting by force.

This is related to one of the rights of prisoners, namely to be free from pressure such as intimidation, terror, or physical torture. However, investigators are allowed to use violence to prevent crimes or other technical reasons which are of course in accordance with the regulations on the use of violence.

What to do if we are arrested? Based on the pocket book on the rights of suspects in the Criminal Procedure Code, it is explained that a suspect has the right to request a letter of assignment and an arrest warrant from the investigator. The suspect also has the right to carefully examine the administrative documents.

Verify the correct identity, reason for arrest, as well as a brief description of the alleged crime and the place of investigation. Don't be afraid to resist arrest if any of the above is missing.

And what's also important, don't believe it when the investigator without a letter asks us to come along and says he's only going to take us to the police station for a while. "Usually as soon as you arrive at the police station you will be immediately arrested or even detained and not allowed to return home," written a copy of the legal education campaign on the @lbh_jakarta Instagram page.

*Read other information about LEGAL CASES or read other interesting articles from Rizky Adytia Pramana and Yudhistira Mahabharata.