Angry Fishermen In Bengkulu District Court, Messing Up The Courtroom Until It Is Damaged

The Bengkulu District Court office was outlined by the police after a fishing group went berserk (ANTARA)

BENGKULU - Bengkulu District Court (PN) reported a group of traditional fishermen who went berserk and damaged various courtroom facilities at the Bengkulu Police Court.

The fishermen went berserk after a trial in the trawl fishing gear case where the four defendants were seated on the evening of Tuesday, February 16.

Public Relations of the Bengkulu District Court, Hascaryo, said that the destruction began when a mob, a group of traditional fishermen from Bengkulu City, protested the charges of the Public Prosecutor (JPU) against the four defendants who were deemed too low.

The prosecutor demanded that the four defendants use the trawl fishing gear for 10 months in prison and a fine of Rp. 100 million. Traditional fishermen think these demands do not fulfill a sense of justice.

Not only protests, the masses even went berserk, causing serious damage to a number of facilities such as chairs and doors in the courtroom of Wirjono Prodjodikiro where the trawl case was being held.

"We have made a report to the Bengkulu City Police. For the reported we did not mention the number because it was related to a group of masses. At the time of the incident there were about 40 or 50 people who carried out the destruction," said Hascaryo.

In its report, the Bengkulu District Court argued that the damage allegedly carried out by a group of fishermen was the article on damaging state facilities.

In addition, the Bengkulu District Court also attached several surveillance camera footage or CCTV that recorded the vandalism as evidence to the Bengkulu Police Reskrim.

"We cannot say how much the estimated damage is because it is related to state property, so an inventory will first be carried out, but what is clear is that there were no casualties in the incident, either the judge, the clerk or the prosecutor," he explained.

Hascaryo said the police had sterilized several rooms on the second floor of the Bengkulu District Court court building where the incident occurred by installing a police line.

The Bengkulu District Court, he said, had also asked the police to help secure the proceedings so that similar incidents did not occur again.

"So when the incident occurred, there was no guarding from the police. It should have needed guarding and security during the trial examination process," he said.

Previously, the prosecutor from the Bengkulu High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati) had charged the four defendants in the trawl case for 10 months in prison and a fine of Rp. 100 million.

The four defendants were Muhammad Aris and Warsimin as the captain of the Bina Bersatu motor boat and Rustam and Mulyadi who were also the owners of the ship.

The four defendants were suspected of having carried out a fishing effort using fishing gear that endangered the sustainability of fish resources or the environment.

Head of Section (Kasi) Legal Information (Penkum) Bengkulu Attorney General Marthin Luther when interviewed on Wednesday said that the prosecution's charges were in accordance with the facts revealed in the trial.

According to him, there were several things that mitigated the charges, namely the four defendants admitted their actions, were candid and promised not to repeat their actions and the four defendants used trawl fishing equipment for the first time.

"Regarding the 10 months' demands, the Prosecutor in this case saw the facts revealed in the trial and mitigating things," he explained.