T

he Supreme Court (MA) has rejected a Judicial Commission (KY) request to sanction judge Sarpin Rizaldi for his controversial verdict dismissing criminal charges against high-ranking police officer Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan.

The court has sent a letter formally rejecting the six-month suspension recommended earlier by the commission.

MA spokesman Suhadi said that KY did not have the authority to review a judge'€™s verdict, as that is the authority of the court. He said that KY'€™s main role was only to monitor whether a judge breached the code of ethics.

What Sarpin decided in Budi'€™s pretrial does not have anything to do with ethics, he said.

'€œThe recommendation cannot be enacted. [Reviewing court process] is not KY'€™s task,'€ said Suhadi on Wednesday.

Budi earlier sued the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which had accused him of being involved in a graft case in a pretrial hearing in the South Jakarta District Court. Sarpin who led the trial later granted Budi'€™s motion, annulling his status as a suspect, and ordered the antigraft body to stop its investigation of Budi.

The ruling was considered controversial since the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) do not authorize a pretrial hearing to examine a suspect status given by a law enforcement institution.

After Sarpin'€™s verdict, the Constitutional Court decided to include suspect status as a subject for pretrial hearings.

Many graft suspects later proposed pretrial examination to challenge the criminal charges that had been slapped on them.