Mataram NTB District Court Judge Sentences Free for 2 Drug Traffickers

MATARAM - The panel of judges handed down an acquittal against Ni Nyoman Juliandari alias Mandari with her husband I Gede Bayu Pratama, two defendants in the distribution of methamphetamine in the city of Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara.

"Hereby try and declare that one defendant Ni Nyoman Juliandari alias Mandari and two defendants I Gede Bayu Pratama have not been legally and convincingly proven as in the indictment of the public prosecutor", said Chief Justice Sri Sulastri accompanied by Catur members Bayu Sulistyo and Agung Prasetyo reading the verdict at the Mataram District Court, Antara, Thursday, November 3.

The judge in his decision also freed the two defendants from all charges and ordered the public prosecutor to return the confiscated evidence belonging to the two defendants.

With this decision, the judge allows the public prosecutor seven days from the reading of the verdict to file an appeal.

The judge gave acquittal to the two defendants by looking at the facts of the trial. Regarding the indictment of Article 112 paragraph 1 and Article 114 paragraph 1 junto Article 132 paragraph 1 of the RI Law Number 35/2009 concerning Narcotics which regulates the issue of evil conspiracy in the distribution of methamphetamine was declared unproven.

One of the judges' considerations was that the two defendants were acquitted regarding the results of the communication examination in the WhatsApp Group (WAG) named Akatsuke.

In the judge's belief, referring to the statement of linguists, he did not find any series of conversations that led to drug transactions.

Similarly, by looking at the statements of the witnesses who were present at the trial. The judge believed that there were no facts stating that the two defendants agreed on drug trafficking which referred to the verdict of the case with permanent legal force belonging to the convicts Gede Wijaya Sandi, Ratu Agus Ngurah Alit, Ratu Agus Ngurah Rai, and Agung Saputra.

The public prosecutor in this case previously asked the judge to sentence Mandari to 10 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1.5 billion, subsidiary to 6 months in prison.

For Mandari's husband, I Gede Bayu Pratama, the prosecutor demanded a sentence of 5.5 years in prison and a fine of Rp. 1.5 billion, subsidiary to 6 months in prison.

In the lawsuit, the prosecutor stated that the actions of the two defendants had been proven to have violated Article 114 paragraph 1 in conjunction with Article 132 paragraph 1 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 35/2009 concerning Narcotics.

This is related to malicious conspiracy without rights or against the law offering for sale, selling, buying, receiving, intermediary in buying and selling, exchanging, or delivering Narcotics Category I according to the contents of the first indictment.

The prosecutor's consideration demanded the panel of judges impose such a sentence by looking at the actions of the two defendants in distributing drugs which had an impact on mental damage and the health of the nation's next generation.

In addition, the two defendants did not admit their actions and did not support the government's program to eradicate narcotics trafficking in the community.