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British journos to face verdict on Tuesday
(Antara/M N Kanwa)Two British journalists are set to hear their verdict in Batam District Court in Riau Islands on Tuesday for allegedly filming a documentary on piracy in the Malacca Strait without proper documents
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(Antara/M N Kanwa) (Antara/M N Kanwa)
(Antara/M N Kanwa)
Two British journalists are set to hear their verdict in Batam District Court in Riau Islands on Tuesday for allegedly filming a documentary on piracy in the Malacca Strait without proper documents.
During their seventh hearing last Monday, presiding judge Wahyu Prasetyo said that the panel of judges needed one week to draft its decision for the case.
Previously, prosecutors had demanded that the panel of judges sentence them to five months in jail and order each of them to pay Rp 50 million (US$3,667) in fines or, alternatively, serve an additional one month jail term.
Prosecutor Bani Ginting said the defendants, Neil Bonner, 31, and Becky Posser, 30, were proven to have violated Article 122 of the 2011 Immigration Law and Article 55 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on collective crimes.
"We aren't looking at whether they were undertaking journalistic [duties] or not; [the prosecution] is based on violations to their visas," said Bani last Monday.
According to Bani, based on the permit request documents submitted by production house Wall to Wall Company, where the two defendants worked, the film production was scheduled to be conducted on June 15, but they had started working on May 28.
"They realize that their activities in Batam had no permits granted and they both know that they were only in possession of seven-day visa-on-arrival for social visit and tourism purposes, not working," said Bani.
Prior to last week's trial, dozens of people who claimed to be journalists from weekly media in Batam held a demonstration in front of the court, a demonstration that was tightly controlled by the local police.
When questioned with regard to the protest, Batam Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said they did not recognize the protesters but lawyer Aristo MA Pangaribuan approached the protesters to thank them for their support.
"We ask the judge to release these British citizens as the prosecutors were unable to prove their guilt during the trial. We also consider the amount of the proposed fines to be excessive, especially due to the fact that both of the defendants aren't currently working," said Aristo. (kes)
