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View all search resultsFlorence stands trial over insult
The trial of Florence Saulina Sihombing, 26, a law graduate from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Yogyakarta, started Wednesday
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T
he trial of Florence Saulina Sihombing, 26, a law graduate from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Yogyakarta, started Wednesday. Florence made harsh comments on social media that city residents deemed insulting.
The prosecutors at Yogyakarta District Court read out their charges against her in the first session. Florence was not accompanied by a lawyer.
'In the next session, I will be accompanied by a lawyer. I ask for two weeks to get one,' Florence said to the judge's panel at the hearing on Wednesday.
Responding to the request, presiding judge Bambang Sunanta said Florence would be given only one week.
'You shall attend hearings as scheduled so you are not arrested,' he said.
Florence promised to comply with the instruction. During the investigation led by the Yogyakarta Police, Florence was detained from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1. After UGM provided a guarantee for her, she was released.
During the 30-minute hearing, prosecutor Rahayu Nur Raharsi read out the charges related to Florence's statements made on her Path account, which read: 'Jogja is poor, idiotic, uncivilized. Friends from Jakarta and Bandung, don't stay in Jogja. Jogja residents are all bastards ['¦].'
'The defendant should understand that her status could be read by her friends and captured and spread to other social media users who were not her social network friends,' said Rahayu.
She went on to say that Florence's statements clearly mentioned Jogja, which referred to a particular ethnicity, namely the Javanese people in the city. Florence's remarks, she added, also expressed her hatred toward Jogja as she encouraged her friends from Jakarta and Bandung not to stay in the city.
'The defendant's remarks spontaneously caused a widespread reaction among individuals and Javanese people in Jogja overall. Her act violates rules that bear criminal sanctions, as stipulated in Article 28 and Article 45 of Law No. 11/2008 on information and electronic transactions,' said Rahayu.
Florence's comments on her Path account were made in anger after being criticized for attempting to cut in front of people waiting in line at a gas station on Jl. Lempuyangan in Yogyakarta. (ebf)(+++)
