MK Decides Ex-Inmates Can Advance DPD Candidates After A Minimum Free Period Of 5 Years

Illustration of the Constitutional Court (MK). (Antanews)

JAKARTA - The Constitutional Court (MK) has decided that ex-convicts may run again as members of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) after serving a period of release from prison for at least five years.

"Granted the petitioner's petition for part," said Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Anwar Usman at the trial of reading the verdict which was monitored on the Constitutional Court's YouTube channel, Tuesday, February 28, which was confiscated by Antara.

Through Decision Number 12/PUU-XXI/2023, the Constitutional Court stated that Article 182 letter g of the Election Law has no permanent legal force.

The article states, "Never been sentenced to prison based on a court decision that has obtained permanent legal force for committing a criminal act that is threatened with imprisonment of 5 years or more, except openly and honestly conveying to the public that the person concerned is a former convict."

The Constitutional Court turned it into, "(i) was never a convict based on a court decision that had obtained permanent legal force for committing a criminal act that was threatened with imprisonment of 5 years or more, except for a convict who committed an negligence and a political crime in the sense of an act that was declared a criminal act in positive law only because the perpetrator had a political view that was different from the regime in power."

Furthermore, the Constitutional Court also added, "(ii) for the former convict, it has passed a period of 5 years after the former convict has finished serving a prison sentence based on a court decision that has permanent legal force and honestly or openly announces the background of his identity as a former convict; and (iii) not a repeated perpetrator of crime."

This decision is in line with Decision Number 87/PUU-XX/2022. What distinguishes the decision is that the legislative candidates who are regulated are candidates for members of the DPR RI, Provincial DPRD, and district or city DPRD.