JAKARTA - The judges' assessment of the Corruption Court (Tipikor) at the Central Jakarta District Court is in the spotlight. They said that the former Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari Peter Batubara, had suffered because of being scolded and cursed by the community and used this as a mitigating factor in passing the verdict.
At the trial held on Monday, August 23, the judge sentenced Juliari to 12 years and a fine of Rp. 500 million for being found guilty in the COVID-19 bribery case. He was also asked to pay a replacement money of Rp. 14.59 billion and was banned from entering politics after being free for four years.
In deciding the decision, there was one point that was highlighted because the judge said that Juliari had suffered as a result of insults and insults against him. In fact, at that time, the former PDI-P politician had not yet been proven guilty of racist practices.
"The defendant has suffered enough of being reviled, cursed, humiliated by the community. The defendant has been sentenced by the community to be guilty even though legally the defendant is not necessarily guilty before a court decision has permanent legal force," the judge said in a trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court, Monday, 23 August.
This mitigating consideration was then highlighted by the former Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Saut Situmorang. According to him, this insult and insult is a form of reaction to Juliari's actions that hurt people's hearts in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When it comes to insults (society, ed) it's dynamics, actions, and reactions. Who ordered corruption? Let alone corrupt suspects who arrested corruptors, they were called Taliban and others, "said Saut to reporters.
He also thinks this country is getting funnier when insults against Juliari who are proven to be corrupt are actually a mitigating reason. "Because, a minister of corruption should actually be a burden. (Because his actions were carried out, ed) in the midst of a pandemic and what was brushed off was clearly the COVID-19 disaster assistance fund," he said.
Similarly, researcher at the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies at Gadjah Mada University (Pukat UGM) Zaenur Rohman considered it inappropriate for insults and insults from the public towards Juliari as a mitigating reason. According to him, the reason for mitigating should come from the internal defendants who then forced them to commit acts of corruption.
"For example, the defendant's mitigating circumstances are the backbone of the family. If the defendant is sentenced to a high sentence, it will result in hampering the obligation to take care of the family. While being berated, being reviled by the community is not a mitigating situation," said Zaenur.
He considers the insults and insults to Juliari are actually a consequence of the violent actions that were carried out in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, said Zaenur, Juliari's corruption was related to the aid that should be received by the community.
"So I don't agree with being insulted by the community as a mitigating thing. What is more suitable if for example the defendant is the backbone or behaves well during the trial, I still agree. But being insulted by the community should not be the judge's excuse," he said.
As previously reported, Juliari was sentenced after being proven to have received Rp32.48 billion in a bribery case for the procurement of COVID-19 social assistance. In detail, he received IDR 1.28 billion from Harry van Sidabukke, IDR 1.95 billion from Ardian Iskandar M, and IDR 29.25 billion from several other COVID-19 social assistance vendors.
For his actions, Juliari was proven to have violated Article 12 letter a or Article 11 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Juncto Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code, Juncto Article 64 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.
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