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New evidence expected to turn tables on JIS case
Tracy Bantleman and Sisca Tjiong know that a judicial review into their husbandsâ convictions in a child sex abuse case would be the last legal resort available to acquit them of all charges and hope that new evidence will free them
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racy Bantleman and Sisca Tjiong know that a judicial review into their husbands' convictions in a child sex abuse case would be the last legal resort available to acquit them of all charges and hope that new evidence will free them.
Tracy, a Canadian, insisted that her husband Neil Bantleman and Sisca's husband Ferdinant Tjiong did not commit any sexual abuse of students at the Jakarta International School (JIS) as charged and she described the latest Supreme Court verdict that overturned their acquittals as an 'inhumanely ridiculous and absurd decision'.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Tracy said she expected that the judicial review process would be carried out with a more careful and sensible sense of justice.
'The next step for us is a judicial review and I do hope that the people in charge will carry out a thorough and careful examination,' Tracy said.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court overturned the acquittals of Bantleman and Ferdinant and ordered each to serve 11 years in prison and pay Rp 100 million (US$7,476) in fines, or serve an additional six months imprisonment.
Following the verdict, officers from the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, one of them carrying a gun, immediately picked up Ferdinant from his house, at around 2 a.m. on Thursday, an action which Sisca claimed was similar to police treatment of a terrorist group member.
Meanwhile, Bantleman was picked up by officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang as he quickly returned from a holiday in Bali after hearing about the verdict.
The decision is the latest turn of events in the abuse case that lead to a guilty verdict and a 10-year sentence imposed by the South Jakarta Court on April 2, 2015, before it got annulled by an acquittal decision by the Jakarta High Court on Aug. 14.
JIS case irregularities
1. Judges have continually blocked information access by preventing any parties from providing information to the public.
2. The 'magic stone', a drug that prosecutors and police claim was used by the teachers to prevent their alleged victims from feeling pain during the alleged assaults, never existed.
3. A 'secret room', which according to the mother of one alleged victim was one of the crime scenes, was actually a filing cabinet room where the school's administration staff used to gather. The room was demolished during renovations in June 2013.
4. A medical test in Singapore in May 2014 revealed that the rectum of one of the alleged victims showed no signs of sexual abuse and it was emphasized that this should be considered a major piece of evidence.
Based on Indonesian law, a judicial review is the last legal option available to challenge a court decision and could be used if the previous verdict had been made based on counterfeit evidence, or if the justice committed an error in making the ruling, or if any new evidence is found.
Patra M. Zen, a lawyer representing Ferdinant and Bantleman, said he was still pursuing a new lead that he believed could be presented as new evidence for the judicial review.
'I recently got information that the mother of the first victim had her son undergo a medical examination in Belgium to check if he was really assaulted. The medical result, of course, showed no abuse,' Patra told reporters.
The medical examination, Patra said, was carried out in November 2015, three months after the Jakarta High Court acquitted his clients. He said that if he could get his hand on the official medical results, it would help prove his claim that Bantleman and Ferdinant were innocent.
Patra went on to say that he has yet to receive a copy of the Supreme Court verdict, but emphasized that error in judgment in the verdict would also be presented as reason to support the judicial review.
The controversial case has been under international spotlight with foreign representatives expressing that it would have a serious effect on the international community's view of the Indonesian justice system.
British ambassador to Indonesia, Moazzam Malik, was the latest to voice his concern about the Supreme Court decision, saying that, 'Yesterday's development adds to serious questions about transparency and consistency on the rule of law in Indonesia.'
Previously, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said that his government was deeply dismayed and shocked by the unjust verdict.
US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake also expressed his disappointment saying, 'It is not clear what evidence the Supreme Court used to overturn the high court's decision.'
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