Lower Than The Prosecutor's Demand Of 5 Years, Bahar Smith Sentenced To 6 Months 15 Days In Prison By The Bandung District Court Judge

BANDUNG - Lecturer Bahar Smith was sentenced to six months and 15 days in prison by the Bandung District Court (PN) for a case of false speech or hoaxes during a lecture in Bandung Regency, West Java.

"Judging, sentenced Habib Bahar Smith to imprisonment for six months and 15 days," said Chief Justice Dodong Rusdani when reading the verdict at the Bandung District Court, Bandung City, West Java, Antara, Tuesday, August 16.

The judge explained that the burdensome thing for Bahar Smith was that he had previously been convicted of other cases. While the mitigating thing is that Bahar is polite during the trial and has family responsibilities. The verdict is lower than the demands of the public prosecutor (JPU). Previously, the public prosecutor demanded that Bahar be sentenced to five years in prison.

Bahar was dragged to court because of his remarks that Rizieq Shihab was imprisoned for holding the Maulid Nabi and six FPI soldiers who were tortured to death.

After reading the verdict, Judge Dodong asked Bahar to be wiser when giving lectures. According to Dodong, the verdict, which is lighter than the prosecutor's demands, is a warning to Bahar to filter his words when giving a lecture.

"Thus the decision is based on actual legal facts," he said.

With this sentence, Bahar's attorney, Smith Ichwan Tuankotta, said that Bahar would be released from custody in the near future. Because currently, according to him, Bahar has been in detention for six months.

"Tomorrow means six months, so we're just waiting for the time actually, maybe one week ahead, but we'll try to calculate it again," said Ichwan.