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Gov's camp slams Tjahjo in police spat
Rusli Habibie: (JP/Syamsul Huda Suhari)The legal team of Gorontalo governor Rusli Habibie, who is the defendant in an ongoing defamation trial, says there is no reason for the governor to be declared inactive, as is being suggested by the Home Ministry
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Rusli Habibie: (JP/Syamsul Huda Suhari) (JP/Syamsul Huda Suhari)
Rusli Habibie: (JP/Syamsul Huda Suhari)
The legal team of Gorontalo governor Rusli Habibie, who is the defendant in an ongoing defamation trial, says there is no reason for the governor to be declared inactive, as is being suggested by the Home Ministry.
Herson Abbas, one of the governor's lawyers, said that there was no strong legal basis for the plan.
'There is no legal ground for the governor to be declared inactive,' Herson told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Rusli is the defendant in a defamation case against then Gorontalo Police chief Sr. Comr. Budi Waseso, who is currently the National Police's Crime and Intelligence Agency head.
On Friday, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said his office would declare the governor inactive to allow him to fully focus on the legal proceedings.
'The governor can only be declared inactive if there is a legally binding verdict in the case or through a decision by the [Gorontalo] legislative council,' Herson said.
Tjahjo made the statement on the sidelines of an event to promote planned simultaneous regional elections in Manado, North Sumatra, on Friday.
The minister said he had received information that the governor was often absent from trial sessions, saying that he needed to do his job as governor. Tjahjo said that his office was preparing an inactive declaration letter that would be signed by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.
'Maybe [it will be ready] next week,' the minister said as quoted by the Kompas daily.
In defense of his client, Herson said Rusli had always attended the trials, which had thus far taken place four times.
The row between Budi and Rusli stemmed from the governor's lobbying of the central government to kick Budi out of the province. Budi filed a defamation suit against the governor before he left the province two years ago.
In his testimony for the defamation trial at the Gorontalo District Court on May 25, Budi claimed the governor had made 10 reports to the Office of Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministery These reports focused on Budi's absence from various events and meetings ahead of and after the Gorontalo mayoral election from March 26 to June 14, 2013.
In the report, the police official said, the governor said he was on good terms with former Gorontalo governor Gusnar Ismail, Rusli's archrival during the 2013 gubernatorial election.
At the height of the conflict, Budi said Rusli then carried out high-level lobbying at the National Police headquarters and House of Representatives so Budi would be dismissed from his post as the Gorontalo Police chief.
Prior to the beginning of his trial, Rusli made a public apology in a local newspaper. The governor could face up to four years in prison if found guilty.
