T

he National Police questioned on Monday three expert witnesses in a case of defamation against judge Sarpin Rizaldi that has seen Judicial Commission (KY) chairman Suparman Marzuki and commissioner Taufiqurrohman Syahuri named suspects.

One of the witnesses, University of Indonesia political communication professor Effendi Gazali, said that remarks made in the media by the KY pair about Sarpin constituted criticism rather than defamation.

'€œI explained to investigators the difference between an insult and criticism, and from what I have learned about this case, the remarks were a form of criticism,'€ Effendi told reporters at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta on Monday.

The expert said that defamation could be differentiated from criticism by the use of '€œinelegant and baseless'€ words, which the KY pair had not employed.

'€œState officials should be open to criticism of the public policies they make,'€ Effendi added.

The police moved against Suparman and Taufiqurrohman just days after the KY concluded its investigation into Sarpin'€™s verdict in a pretrial plea filed to the South Jakarta District Court by senior National Police figure Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, finding that the judge had violated the judges'€™ code of ethics in his ruling and recommending that the Supreme Court (MA) suspend him for six months.

The MA, however, rejected the KY'€™s recommendation and declared that Sarpin had not violated any code of ethics in his controversial ruling, despite the ruling receiving condemnation from legal experts and former MA justices.

Another of the experts questioned on Monday, Ridwan HR of the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta, concurred with Effendi, adding that the KY pair'€™s comments were justified given their position as leaders of an institution tasked with supervising the conduct of judges across the country.

'€œThey spoke on the behalf of their institution, not themselves. Administrative law says that it should be decided whether [statements made by officials] are made in a personal or official capacity,'€ Ridwan said.

The third expert the police questioned on Monday was Zainal Arifin Muchtar, a law professor from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

It was Taufiqurrahman who demanded the force question the three experts to provide extenuating testimony. Eva Achjani Zulfa of the University of Indonesia'€™s School of Law is slated to be questioned on Friday.

Police investigators are set to send the KY pair'€™s dossiers to the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) to prepare their upcoming trial, but for the sake of fair investigation Taufiqurrahman and Suparman'€™s lawyers made the appeal to present experts to defend them in the case.

Taufiqurrahman'€™s lawyer Dedi J. Syamsuddin said that he hoped that after hearing the experts'€™ opinions, the National Police would decide to drop the investigation.

'€œWe hope, and expect, that police investigators and the AGO will take this expert testimony into account when deciding whether to halt the case,'€ Dedi said.

The National Police, meanwhile, previously said that they would gladly drop their investigation if Sarpin withdrew his complaint, a suggestion rebutted by the judge, who asked the police to go on with the case.