2 Defendants Of Persecutors Of Santri Gontor To Death Sentenced To 4 And 8 Years In Prison

The atmosphere of the verdict of the student abuse case to death at the Ponorogo District Court, Wednesday (7/6/2023) (ANTARA/HO - SDP)

PONOROGO - The District Court of Ponorogo Regency, East Java sentenced two defendants to prison for persecuting students at Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor, causing the victim Albar Mahdi (17) to die on February 22, 2023.

The trial led by senior judge Ari Qurniawan took place openly to the public. It appears that the families of the defendants MFA (18) and IH (16) attended the trial until the panel of judges finished reading the verdict.

"Sentenced the defendant MFA to eight years in prison for MFA and four years to IH," said Judge Ari reading the verdict reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, June 7.

The verdict, especially for the defendant MFA, was lower than the prosecutor's demands. MFA was previously sentenced to 12 years in prison. Meanwhile, IH was sentenced to five years in prison.

However, the verdict was not immediately accepted by the public prosecutor.

One member of the prosecutor's team, Bagas Prasetya, stated that the use of the right to think first was related to the MFA verdict. However, for the defendant IH, continued Bagas, his party did not plan to take legal action.

"We will still think about it first, we will report it to the leadership first, how will it be, there are still seven days for us to think about it," said Bagas.

Confirmed separately, MFA's attorney, Zul Efendi Manurung, said that his party respects all decisions read out by the panel of judges.

He will also still coordinate with the family and defendants whether to appeal the decision.

"Fakta fakta di persidangan memang ada kekerasan di situ menyebabkan kekerasan meninggal dan keluarga memafkan juga dan tidak ada sekali dari kliennya untuk melakukan perbuatan tersebut," ujarnya.

Yatma, the attorney for the defendant IH, appreciated the verdict made by the panel of judges. According to him, the panel of judges was objective in giving the verdict. Even his party accepted the decision and would not appeal.

"We have received the vocalist for four years, I think the prosecutor and the judge are objective in the verdict against our client," he said.