This Criminal Law Expert From UII Is Defense Putri Chandrawathi, Saying Visum Is Not The Only Proof Of Harassment

JAKARTA - Criminal Law expert at the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII), Mahrus Ali, said that the absence of a post-mortem from Putri Candrawathi did not mean that it was possible that there was sexual harassment allegedly committed by Brigadier J.

The statement was made when Mahrus Ali was presented as a mitigating witness for the defendants Ferdy Sambo and Putri Candrawathi in the trial of the alleged murder of Brigadier J at the South Jakarta District Court, Thursday, December 22.

Initially, lawyer Ferdy Sambo and Putri Candrawathi, Rasamala Aritonang, alluded to the results of research related to sexual harassment cases.

Mahrus also began to explain that sexual violence often occurs in private spaces with minimal evidence.

"The only evidence that is usually presented by the Prosecutor is usually post-mortem, but if the post-mortem is not there? My question is like this, the post-mortem is not related to the more difficult challenges faced by the Prosecutor to prove, but he did not eliminate the absence of crime," said Mahrus.

Thus, he interpreted that the absence of a post-mortem does not mean that sexual violence cannot occur. Because, often victims choose to be reluctant to report because they are embarrassed.

"Don't conclude that if the victim does not do a post-mortem, there is no crime, why? Because of this, Your Honor, from the perspective of Victimology, not all victims of sexual violence have the courage to report," he said.

"The victim of sexual violence when reporting will experience secondary victimization of inappropriate treatment from many actors from the criminal justice system," continued Mahrus.

However, he said that evidence of sexual violence could be done in other ways, such as forensic psychology. From the examination, it can be seen that there was trauma experienced by victims of sexual harassment.

"But it doesn't state that crimes don't happen, because of what? Because there are so many pieces of evidence that can be directed, what? Psychology can explain that, what for example? People who are raped must be traumatized, nothing after being judged is laughing, so how do you prove it? Present a psychological witness to explain that, I have no competence about it," said Mahrus.

For information, the alleged sexual harassment of Putri Candrawathi by Brigadier J was allegedly Ferdy Sambo.

The harassment, which Ferdy Sambo always emphasized as the motive for the shooting of his former aide.

As for the premeditated murder case of Brigadier J, Ferdy Sambo and Putri Candrawathi were charged with violating Article 340 subsidiary 338 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 to (1) of the Criminal Code.