TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Facebook, Path users sentenced

District courts in Bandung and Yogyakarta sentenced on Tuesday two women, Wisni Yeti and Florence Saulina Sihombing, to five months in jail and two months in jail with six months’ probation, respectively, for defamation

Arya Dipa and Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post)
Bandung/Yogyakarta
Wed, April 1, 2015

Share This Article

Change Size

Facebook, Path users sentenced

D

istrict courts in Bandung and Yogyakarta sentenced on Tuesday two women, Wisni Yeti and Florence Saulina Sihombing, to five months in jail and two months in jail with six months'€™ probation, respectively, for defamation.

The Bandung District Court also handed down a fine of Rp 10 million (US$764) or an additional six months in jail to Wisni for disseminating electronic data that included indecent statements against her former husband, Haska Etika.

Presiding judge M. Saptono stated that Wisni, 47, was guilty of violating the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law. The sentence was harsher than that sought by prosecutors of four months'€™ imprisonment and a Rp 10 million fine.

'€œI don'€™t accept the verdict,'€ Wisni told journalists after the trial, as she wiped away tears.

Earlier, Haska filed a police report that included a printout of a private Facebook conversation between Wisni and her high school friend Nugraha. Wisni and Haska divorced in January 2015.

Wisni'€™s lawyer Rusydi A. Bakar said Haska obtained the evidence by stealing the password of Wisni'€™s Facebook account.

According to Rusydi, Haska obtained the evidence in violation of Article 30 of the ITE Law.

The article stipulates that no one has the right to access another person'€™s electronic information. Violation of the article is punishable by a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp 600 million.

'€œOnly law enforcers have the right to open [an online account] after a person has been named a suspect. Law enforcers can get approval from the local court,'€ said Rusydi.

Wisni had earlier been placed in a detention cell for nine days at West Java Police headquarters due to the police report lodged by her ex-husband. '€œI'€™m traumatized if I see iron bars,'€ said Wisni.

Prosecutors did not produce Nugraha, mentioned as Wisni'€™s chatting partner, in court.

Separately, the Yogyakarta District Court sentenced Florence to two months in jail and required her to pay a fine of Rp 10 million for insulting the people of Yogyakarta through her Path social media account.

'€œThe defendant does not have to serve the jail sentence, except if she commits another crime while she serves her six-month probation,'€ said presiding judge Bambang Sunanta as he delivered the verdict on Tuesday.

The sentence was lighter than that sought by prosecutors of six months in jail with a one-year probation period and a fine of Rp 10 million or an additional three months behind bars.

'€œThe defendant is proven guilty of violating Law No. 11/2008 on electronic information and transactions,'€ said Bambang.

As reported, Florence, a public notary student at Yogyakarta'€™s Gadjah Mada University School of Law, was stopped while attempting to fill up her motorcycle at a gas station in Lempuyangan, Yogyakarta, during a fuel shortage. She subsequently saw herself on television as she was being stopped because she had been regarded as having jumped the line.

Florence then wrote a Path status on Aug. 27, 2014, which said, '€œYogya is poor, stupid and uncivilized. My friends in Jakarta and Bandung should never live here. Yogyakartans are rogues. I wanted to buy Pertamax 95 gasoline but wasn'€™t served just because I ride a motorbike. I queued in the car line but was never served, but instead asked to queue in the motorcycle line, which was very long. This is discrimination. As if I couldn'€™t pay. Damn it!'€

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.