Human rights commission’s authority limited in Antasari case: AGO

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) said that the examination the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) planned to launch into the Antasari Azhar case did not have the power to overturn the verdict against Antasari.

Antasari Azhar was the former chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) before he was convicted to 18 years imprisonment for the murder of businessman Nazaruddin Nasution.

Deputy Attorney General for internal monitoring Marwan Effendy said there was no fault in the commission’s plan to examine the Antasari case.

The commission plans to launch an examination of the Antasari case to discover whether the case involved any violations of human rights.

The Antasari case resurfaced after tax graft convict Gayus H. Tambunan said that a prosecutor knew “the truth” behind the case.

Marwan said that the problem, however, rested in the limited authority of the commission, which does not have the power to overturn a verdict handed out by the courts.

“The mechanism already exists. Only Antasari can request a case review (PK),” he added.

“They [the commission] are not a court. They are only given a mandate on matters regarding human rights,” he said.