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Komnas HAM wants to sit in on JIS trials
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will ask for permission to observe the ongoing closed-door court hearings of five outsourced cleaners accused of sexually abusing a male kindergartner at Jakarta International School (JIS)
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T
he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will ask for permission to observe the ongoing closed-door court hearings of five outsourced cleaners accused of sexually abusing a male kindergartner at Jakarta International School (JIS).
Komnas HAM member Nur Kholis told The Jakarta Post that the commission wanted to sit in on the trials to investigate the claim of four defendants that they had been tortured during police interrogation.
'I will meet with the panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court next Wednesday to submit the commission's request. We also want access to more information, such as the complete dossiers,' he said.
The alleged sexual abuse of the pupil first came to light when his mother held a press conference on April 14. She said she found bruises on her son's stomach and anus on March 20 and reported the case to the police on March 24.
The five suspects ' Afrischa Setyani, Virgiawan Amin, Zainal Abidin, Syahrial and Agun Iskandar ' who were all employed by PT Integrated Service Solutions (ISS) to work at JIS, were detained. According to the police, Afrischa was the only suspect who did not confess to the alleged crime.
In the three-page indictment, the five defendants stand accused of having sexually abused the 6-year-old kindergartner twice, once in January and once in February, in a rest room at the school. The prosecutors charged the defendants under Article 82 of the 2002 Child Protection Law, which carries a maximum 17-year prison sentence.
- Komnas HAM to make request after receiving a complaint from the defendants that the police interrogators tortured them
- Victim's lawyer opposes plan, saying Komnas HAM has no right to request access
In addition to the five cleaners, the police detained another suspect, Azwar, who died in April while in custody in the women's and children's unit of the Jakarta Police.
Virgiawan, Zainal, Syahrial and Agun retracted their recorded confessions three weeks ago. Virgiawan and Agun's lawyer, Patra M. Zen, claimed that his two clients and two other defendants had confessed to the crime after being tortured by the police. They all claimed that Azwar's death was also a result of torture. However, the police maintain that the suspect committed suicide.
Nur Kholis said the commission was still undecided on whether it was necessary to perform an autopsy on Azwar's body.
'In addition to requesting to sit in on the trials, we have submitted a request to meet with the JIS administrators and examine the alleged crime scene next week,' he said.
Separately, Virgiawan and Agun's other lawyer, Mada R. Mardanus, told the Post on Friday that he was grateful that Komnas HAM was investigating the case seriously.
'This is exactly what we wanted. The trials are closed to the public due to the victim's young age so the public cannot witness them. However, Komnas HAM, as a reliable third party, wants to monitor the trials,' he said.
Mada added that he hoped Komnas HAM's presence in court would also ensure that the panel of judges was not influenced by pressure from the public or the media.
'The judges' verdicts should be based only on the facts presented to them and they must believe that the defendants are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Anything less could entail a human rights violation, and this is where Komnas HAM's role is the most crucial,' he said.
Meanwhile, the victim's lawyer, Andi Asrun, said that Komnas HAM had no right to monitor the hearings because it was not a stakeholder in the case.
'The trials are closed; even I, as the victim's lawyer, am prohibited from observing the hearings. There is no legal basis for them to be there,' he said, adding that the only unrelated people allowed inside the courtroom were members of the Judicial Commission and the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).
If Komnas HAM was granted permission to observe the trials, Andi continued, he would also submit another request to attend.
'This is ridiculous. The trials are on a straightforward case, and involving Komnas HAM would only make the case unnecessarily complicated,' he said. (fss)
