Police Reveal Reasons Many Lawyers For Rizieq Shihab Are Prohibited From Entering, Up To 2 Reactive Supporters Of COVID-19

Lawyers and police had an argument before Rizieq Shihab's trial this morning (Rizky Adytia / VOI)

JAKARTA - The police have explained the reasons for not allowing most of Rizieq Shihab's lawyers to enter the East Jakarta District Court. The goal is to avoid the crowd in the courtroom.

The matter of limiting capacity in the courtroom has also been coordinated by the Public Relations of the East Jakarta District Court.

"And it was explained that the restriction was to reduce the crowd in the main courtroom," East Jakarta Metro Police Chief Kombes Erwin Kurniawan told reporters, Friday, March 19.

"That the National Police is tasked with securing the situation around or within the East Jakarta District Court, it has coordinated with the District Court and the panel of judges," he continued.

Erwin emphasized that the police did not intend to prohibit Rizieq's lawyers from entering the courtroom. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, all activities must be limited.

"Because that's what underlies us to limit those who will attend the MRS trial and friends," he said.

For this reason, only five of Rizieq's lawyers were allowed to enter. But none of the former FPI frontmen's attorneys attended the trial process.

"So that none of the attorneys from MRS et al will enter the main courtroom," said Erwin

Previously it was reported that there was tension between lawyer Rizieq Shihab, Munarman and Alamsyah Hanafiah with the police. Rizieq's lawyer has not been allowed to enter.

There was an argument with the police. They questioned the reasons behind the ban on entry to the court.

"What is the reason for not being allowed to enter? We are Rizieq Shihah's official attorneys. We have a power of attorney," said a Rizieq lawyer, Friday, March 19.

However, the police did not explain the reasons behind the ban. Not long after, representatives from the East Jakarta District Court came out and chatted with the lawyers.

However, it was not clear what they were talking about. Even though there were representatives who coordinated, the lawyers were still not allowed to enter this morning.

Two Reactive Supporters of Rizieq Shihab

Meanwhile, during the trial process, the police arrested 37 supporters of Rizieq Shihab who came from outside Jakarta. From the results of the antigen swab examination, two of them were declared COVID-19 reactive.

"Of the crowd, two people were reactive," said Erwin.

With this result, the two supporters of Rizieq were immediately followed up by taking them to the Athlete's House. Meanwhile, the rest were taken to the East Jakarta Metro Police for further data.

"So our officers immediately isolated and brought the two people to the athletes' homestead for further processing of health to prevent the spread of COVID-19," he said.