Four Amicus Brief Points Presented By Novia Widyasari's Justice Advocacy Team To Mojokerto District Court

The dismissal of police officer Randy Bagus Hari Sasongko and a defendant in the abortion case of Novia Widyasari Rahayu. (Polda Jatim Doc)

JAKARTA - The Justice Advocacy Team for Novia Widyasari has submitted an Amicus Brief from the Institute for Community Studies and Advocacy (ELSAM) and a recommendation letter from Komnas Perempuan for an ongoing case to the Mojokerto District Court.

Based on the information received, the Amicus Brief was submitted on Monday, April 18, Elsam gave a statement with four important points, namely:

1. Regarding the indictment submitted by the Public Prosecutor, Elsam considered that the indictment did not refer to Guidelines Number 1 of 2021 concerning Access to Justice for Women and Children in Handling Criminal Cases, one of which regulates when the Prosecutor describes facts and actions related to sexuality.

The Public Prosecutor should as much as possible avoid descriptions that are too detailed, vulgar and excessive. This is intended to respect the human rights, dignity and privacy of women and children in conflict with the law and prevent re-victimization.

In the a quo case, on the other hand, the Public Prosecutor has described the facts and actions in a very detailed, vulgar and exaggerated manner, especially in relation to the description of the husband and wife relationship between the defendant and Novia Widyasari.

Elsam also argued that the Public Prosecutor was unable to decipher the relationship between cases of violence in courtship (KDP) that led to sexual violence, forced abortions and victims of suicide due to severe depression.

2. The use of the provisions of Article 348 paragraph (1) in the indictment of the Public Prosecutor causes the victim to experience re-victimization or to become a victim again because she is also accused of violating the law as a result of being considered together with the defendant to give consent to have an abortion.

In fact, her abortion occurred because of pressure and coercion due to the power relationship in the courtship relationship between the victim and the defendant, including coercion from the parents of the defendant.

3. As also revealed in the trial, Novia suffers from depression which makes her vulnerable to physical and verbal abuse by the defendant in the series of forced abortions. The series of events committed by the defendant should be seen within the framework of the teaching of causality, which also seeks to reveal the responsibility for Novia's death.

4. The panel of judges is expected to use a progressive legal perspective, which views the law for the people, not the other way around. In this perspective, judges do not only act as legal technicians, but also become social beings. The Panel of Judges is also encouraged to make legal discoveries by using their authority to examine and decide cases outside of the prosecutor's indictment by presenting legal considerations on which to make decisions. In practice, several times the judge decided cases outside of the prosecutor's indictment, some of which were the Ranai District Court Decision No.10/Pid.B/2013/PN.Rni on the basis of the similarity of types of actions. The two Supreme Court decisions No. 2501 K/Pid.Sus/2011.