In what was called a "grave for press freedom" in Indonesia, a court here ruled Thursday in favor of a pulp and paper firm in a long-standing dispute with Koran Tempo daily newspaper.

The South Jakarta District Court ordered the newspaper to pay Rp 220.3 million (US$24,000) to PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) and publish apologies to the company in major national media.

Prosecutors had demanded the newspaper pay Rp 1.5 billion in material and immaterial damages.

The court found the newspaper guilty of failing to provide RAPP with its proper right to reply over three articles connecting the company and its owner, Sukanto Tanoto, to illegal logging in Riau.

A panel of judges said Koran Tempo must print an apology in full on its front page, which will include RAPP's reply, and have that statement published in several major print media for three straight days.

Judges further ordered the newspaper to broadcast the apology and the reply on several TV stations for seven straight days.

In October 2007, RAPP sued PT Tempo Inti Media Harian, which publishes Koran Tempo, and its chief editor S. Malela Mahargasarie, for defamation.

The company claimed the three articles of July 6, 12 and 13, 2007, repeatedly mixed facts and opinions.

Koran Tempo's lawyers said the paper had published a correction on July 27 last year, but judges rejected it as an inadequate response.

"Koran Tempo did not make a proper reply because it only provided a small space, much like the space for an ad, for the company's statement," Judge Eddy Risdyanto told the court in reading out the verdict.

The panel of judges said the response did not provide the company justice because the newspaper refused to accept RAPP's demand for it to publish the company's unedited reply.

"It is this court's opinion that Koran Tempo has broken the law because it allowed no right to reply," Eddy said.

The judges said Koran Tempo had damaged the company's reputation with the three articles.

The verdict was greeted with jeers from the audience at the courtroom, which mostly consisted of members of the Alliance of Independent Journalists.

Koran Tempo lawyer Sholeh Ali said the verdict was blatantly unfair because it did not consider the facts written in the articles.

Nor did it respect other judges' decisions in the past who had ordered plaintiffs in similar cases to address their concerns through the country's Press Council, he added.

"This decision is a slap to press freedom and an insult to the role the press plays as a voice for the people," Sholeh said after the trial.

Koran Tempo chief editor Malela said he would appeal the verdict.

Abdullah Alamudi of the Press Council slammed the decision as a "grave for press freedom" in the country.

"The decision has no legal basis. The right to reply should be proportional to the mistake. If the mistake is three paragraphs long, then the reply should be three paragraphs long," he said.

"I don't know how judges think they can just grant a full-page reply, and for three days for that matter," he said.

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