The Prosecutor For The Novel Case Is Deemed Not To See Any Element Of Intent

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Two defendants, Rahmat Kadir Mahulette and Rony Bugis, for the case of sprinkling the chemical liquid against Novel Baswedan were sentenced to 1 year in prison. The demand refers to article 353 of the Criminal Code, paragraph 2 concerning persecution with prior planning to cause serious injuries. This has also received many negative responses from various circles because it is considered unfair.

An observer of criminal law at Al Azhar University, Suparji Ahamd, said that the application of this article by the Public Prosecutor (JPU) was inappropriate. Reflecting on the watering incident, the defendants should have been charged with a heavier article, namely Article 355 of the Criminal Code concerning planned serious maltreatment.

"It should have been (suspected) under Article 355 of the Criminal Code. The defendant's actions must be seen and linked to the articles being charged," Suparji told VOI, Tuesday, June 16.

However, during the trial the prosecutor stated that the article on serious maltreatment could not be used. The reason was that the element of deliberation could not be proven in the watering case because the defendant did not intend to damage the victim's eye.

In fact, referring to the level of deliberation in criminal law, there are three categories of deliberate action, namely, deliberate intent, deliberate with certainty, and deliberate with possibility.

Thus, the actions of the defendants were categorized as deliberate with possibility. Because in planning to pour chemical liquid into Novel Baswedan, the perpetrators were able to predict what would happen or be caused by the chemical liquid.

"That can be estimated if the hard water injures the body it could be dangerous," said Suparji.

The demands were considered too light

In addition, Suparji said, the appropriate charge in this case was a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison. This is because the defendants are people who work at the National Police and understand criminal law. Then, because the victim was a KPK investigator and came from the National Police, the attack shouldn't have occurred. However, the reason for the two defendants to teach a lesson was because Novel Baswedan was considered a traitor.

"Given that the defendant is someone who knows the law because it is a law enforcement apparatus, it should not be against the law," said Suparji.

Moreover, when compared to other chemical sprinkling cases, the charges given to the defendant were heavier. So, it became odd when the two defendants poured hard water on Novel Baswedan were only charged with one year in prison.

"Cases of mistreatment or sprinkling of hard water are also subject to heavy penalties. So this case should also have heavy demands," concluded Suparji.

Previously, in the trial of Baswedan's chemical sprinkling case with the agenda of reading the charges, the Public Prosecutor (JPU) asked the two tedakwa, Rahmat Kadir Mahulette and Rony Bugis, to one year in prison.

"Demand that the panel of judges at the North Jakarta District Court examine and adjudicate this case to decide, two, to impose a sentence on the defendant Rahmat Kadir Mahulette for 1 year with an order that the defendant remains detained," said the prosecutor while reading out the indictment at the North Jakarta District Court, Thursday, 11 June.

In the indictment, the defendant Rahmat's actions were deemed proven to have fulfilled the elements of maltreatment with planning and resulted in serious injuries due to using sulfuric acid or H2SO4 to injure Novel Baswedan. Meanwhile, Rony is considered to have been involved in the act of persecution because he helped the persecution process.

In addition, the prosecutor said that what incriminated the two defendants was that their actions had tarnished the honor of the National Police institution.

"Like peanuts on the skin, because Novel was assigned to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) even though he was raised at the National Police, he is very arrogant, famous and familiar with the law, so that the defendant's intention to teach Novel a lesson by making Novel seriously injured," said the prosecutor.