Rizieq Shihab Says Meeting With BIN Head Up To National Police Chief, Prosecutor: Looking For A Stage And Wants To Blame Other Parties

Journalists observe the smartphone screen of Rizieq Shihab's trial (Photo: Fakhri Hermansyah/Antara)

JAKARTA - The Public Prosecutor (JPU) said that Rizieq Shihab's statement regarding his meeting with the Head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Budi Gunawan and the former National Police Chief General (Ret.) Tito Karnavian had nothing to do with communicating with the former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto. In fact, Rizieq is said to be just looking for a stage.

The statement began when the prosecutor highlighted the memorandum of defense or Rizieq Shihab which mentioned several state officials.

Then, the prosecutor also thought that the plea had nothing to do with the trial process for the test results of the Bogor UMMI Hospital.

"In the pleadings the defendant told stories that had nothing to do with legal facts, by mentioning several names, namely Budi Gunawan, former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto, Kyai Maruf Amin who is now the vice president of the Republic of Indonesia or General Tito Karnavian, TNI special forces who are not has to do with the facts of the trial with the a quo case," said the Prosecutor in the trial at the East Jakarta District Court, Monday, June 14

In addition, the prosecutor thought the stories were just for attention. Thus, it does not deserve special attention.

In fact, the story that describes Rizieq's condition during his flight in Saudi Arabia is only seen as a way to blame other parties for his case.

"The prosecutor considers that there is no relevance. The stories of the defendants seem to be looking for a stage to blame other parties and unilaterally justify what the defendants did," said the prosecutor.

Previously, Rizieq Shihab said he had met General (Ret.) Budi Gunawan at a hotel in Jeddah, in early June 2017.

It's just that Rizieq did not go into detail about the conversations at the meeting. He only confirmed that the meeting resulted in an agreement.

"The result of the meeting was very good, we made a written agreement in black and white which was signed by me and the BIN Operations Commander Major General TNI (ret) Agus Suharto in the presence of the Head of BIN and his team, then the letter was taken to Jakarta and witnessed and also signed by the Head of BIN and his team. Chairman of the Central MUI KH Ma'ruf Amin who is now the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia," said Rizieq.

"Among the contents of the agreement are to stop all legal cases for me (Rizieq) and friends so that there is no more slander of criminalization, and agree to prioritize dialogue rather than mobilizing masses, and are ready to support all policies of the Jokowi government as long as they do not conflict with the teachings of Islam and the Indonesian constitution," he continued.

In fact, Rizieq also mentioned that he met with General (Ret.) Tito Karnavian, who at that time served as the National Police Chief. The meeting took place twice in 2018 and 2019.

During the meeting, Rizieq emphasized three things, including stopping religious blasphemy, stopping the rise of the PKI, and stopping the sale of state assets to foreigners and foreigners.