T

he Supreme Court announced on Monday it had turned down a request by former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Antasari Azhar to review a murder case that saw him convicted.

Lawyer Maqdir Ismail said he was disappointed with the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying the Court’s rejection meant the end of the road for Antasari.

“We still have another option to ask for leniency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. However, this option is quite problematic for us because filing this request could be interpreted as Antasari admitting his role in the crime, which is totally opposite to the idea of filing the case review,” Maqdir told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

When asked about the next step, Maqdir said that he would need some time to assess it.

“In the meantime, I don’t have anything to say,” he said.

The Supreme Court’s general crimes division secretary Suhadi announced that it had decided to turn down Antasari Azhar’s request for a case review. However, when asked about the Court’s considerations behind its rejection, Suhadi said that it would take a few more days before he could give a full, public explanation due to administrative processes.

“All that I can say right now is the panel of judges shared the same perspective on this case so there was no dissenting opinion,” he said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The panel of judges was led by outgoing Supreme Court chief justice Harifin Tumpa and the members were Djoko Sarwoko, Imron Anawari, Komariah and Hatta Ali.

Maqdir Ismail said the case review panel had failed to see the clarity of evidence presented by Antasari. “How come the judges didn’t realize that the bullet, which was presented as evidence, didn’t match the shell casing?” He said.

He said there were at least a dozen other documents that had been gathered by Antasari’s lawyers to prove that his client had been wrongly accused.

“The panel turned a blind eye toward this solid evidence,” he said.

Antasari was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the South Jakarta District Court for suggesting the murder of PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran director Nasruddin Zulkarnaen. Besides Antasari, former South Jakarta police chief Williardi Wizar and media businessman Sigid Haryo Wibisono were also sent to prison for 12 and 15 years respectively for orchestrating the murder with Antasari.