Not Up To Rate In Euphoria, Ferdy Sambo's Death Sentences Are Not Inkracht

Ferdy Sambo, a defendant in the murder case of Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, was sentenced to death in a trial at the South Jakarta District Court, February 13, 2023. (Rizky Adytia Pramana/VOI)

JAKARTA The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court sentenced the defendant Ferdy Sambo to the death penalty. The former Head of the Propam Police Division was legally and convincingly proven guilty of premeditated murder of his aide, Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat.

Ferdy Sambo also without the right to do what causes the electronic system to not work properly. But don't be in a hurry to be happy, because the death penalty for Sambo has not been inkracht or has permanent legal force.

"Sentenced the defendant to the defendant therefore with the death penalty," said Chief Judge Wahyu Iman Santoso reading his verdict at the trial for the verdict of defendant Ferdy Sambo at the South Jakarta District Court on February 13, 2023.

Even so, said a criminal law observer from Mataram University, Farizal Pranata Bahri, Ferdy Sambo still has the right to take further legal action. It can go through appeal and cassation legal remedies, and submit a review of the case.

"New evidence could be found which is the basis for mitigating the sentence of the previous judge's decision. Maybe the defendant also assessed that the court examiner in the district court had wrongly applied the sentence, or many other things became the basis," Farizal told VOI on February 13, 2023.

If these efforts do not succeed, including a review of the case, Ferdy Sambo can ask the president for clemency.

This once happened with Police Brigadier General Soegeng Soetarto. In police history, Soegeng Soetarto became the first high-ranking police officer to be sentenced to death. However, not because of the murder case against his subordinates, but because of political nuances, namely his involvement in the PKI coup.

The trial of the Extraordinary Court in 1973 sentenced Soegeng to death. However, in 1980, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment. President Suharto finally granted clemency, Soegeng was released in 1995.

Article 1 number 1 of the Grasi Law, clemency is a pardon in the form of amendments, competitions, reductions, or the abolition of criminal implementation to convicts given by the president.

Those are the rights of the defendant and the convict from the eyes of the law. In this case, Ferdy Sambo's attorney is likely to take further legal action, because they assume there are strong reasons from Ferdy Sambo who underlies him in committing premeditated murder, "said Farizal.

Co-Founder Institute for Security and Strategic Studies (ISESS) Khairul Fahmi also considers the death sentence against Ferdy Sambo a historic moment. This is the first time a two-police star general has been sentenced to death for a murder crime.

So far, the death penalty for the most murder occurred against a low-ranking police officer. Like the case of Aipda Roni Syahputra, the perpetrator of the murder planned for two women. The Medan District Court on October 11, 2021 sentenced Roni to death.

However, said Khairul, the public must continue to oversee the case if later there are legal remedies made by Ferdy Sambo.

"This is only the first instance of justice. There are still appeals, cassations, and other legal remedies that can be taken. So, don't drag on too much in the euphoria. Of course, we also hope that if there is an appeal, the judge at the next level don't play games. Don't hurt the community's sense of justice anymore," he told VOI on February 13, 2023.

In Article 10 of the Criminal Code, the death penalty belongs to one of the main crimes. Crimes that are threatened with the death penalty in the Criminal Code include:

Article 104 of the Criminal Code: Makar kills the head of state. Article 111 paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code: Kill a foreign country to attack Indonesia. Article 124 paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code: Provide help to the enemy when Indonesia is in a state of war. Article 140 paragraph 4 of the Criminal Code: Killing the head of a friendly country. Article 340 of the Criminal Code: First planned murder. Article 365 paragraph 4 of the Criminal Code: theft and violence by two people or more and resulting in someone suffering serious or death. In addition, several articles in Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning narcotics also regulate the death penalty. Article 118 and Article 121 paragraph 2 states that the maximum penalty for violators is the death penalty.

So far, according to the Database for the Death penalty in Indonesia managed by the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), there are 326 death row inmates, but only 34 people have been executed.

The last execution was carried out in 2016 against four death row convicts in narcotics cases, one of whom was Freddy Budiman. The West Jakarta District Court on July 15, 2013, sentenced Freddy to death for the possession of 1.4 million ecstasy pills smuggled from China in May 2012.

Freddy's efforts to get leniency through appeals and reviews have yielded no results. The execution of death was carried out three years later, on Friday morning, July 29, 2016.

The Ferdy Sambo case, according to Khairul, should be an evaluation for the Police. After all, the Police are one of the law enforcement institutions that should obey the law.

"We certainly don't want other Sambo-Sambos. The National Police must be more neat, careful in assessing their personnel. For example, related to career development and promotion of positions, it must be stricter. This must be based on competency-based things," he said.

ASA Indonesia Institute researcher, Reza Indragiri Amriel also assessed that by passing the death sentence against Ferdy Sambo, the judge had made their decision reach three targets at once: the judge's career, the dignity of the Supreme Court in the eyes of the public, and the authority of the criminal justice system from the possibility of being bought by perpetrators of arbitrarily and in power.

The verdict for death is not the end of the legal process faced by Ferdy Sambo. Later, it is very possible that the Yosua family will file a civil lawsuit for compensation against Ferdy Sambo and Putri Candrawati. Change losses for all lies and character assassination against Yosua.

One more thing, the prison needs to look after the extra Ferdy Sambo and PC after the verdict. Referring to the study, the suicide rate in the detention center is higher than in prison. The reason is that the suspect or defendant experienced shocked. Shocked his soul. Take care of FS and PC so they don't commit actions that can be fatal for their own lives," added Reza to VOI on February 13, 2023.