F

irst Brig. Nugroho Eko Krismianto and Saiful Anwar attended the first hearing of a trial on Tuesday at the East Jakarta District Court for allegedly sodomizing a five-year-old boy in their neighborhood in Ciracas.

“The defendants are charged with violating Article 82 of Law No. 23/2002 on child protection,” presiding judge Hari Budi Setyanto said as quoted by kompas.com.

According to the East Jakarta Police, Eko, a member of the National Police’s Mobile Brigade (Brimob), and Saiful, a construction worker, allegedly sodomized the victim, identified only as F, on Feb. 9 and 10. The defendants allegedly threatened, assaulted and deceived the victim.

The hearing was carried out at a closed-door session, as is the practice for all cases involving minors. After the hearing, the victim’s mother, M, was harassed during her interview with reporters by relatives of one of the defendants. M’s decision to take the case to court drew anger and intimidation from her neighbors, who are related to Eko.