T

he Central Jakarta District Court is scheduled on Monday to start the trial of two human rights campaigners who had been arrested during a labor protest in front of the State Palace in October - a case that may discourage freedom of speech.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) lawyers Tigor Gempita Hutapea and Obed Sakti Andre Dominika were arrested when documenting alleged violent acts committed by the police to disperse the workers'€™ rally.

They will stand trial along with 23 workers and one university student on charges of disobeying police orders during the protest.

LBH Jakarta campaigner Yunita said that the prosecution of Tigor and Obed marked the first time law enforcement institutions have charged public advocates in protests since the country left the New Order in 1998.

'€œThe legal process is a criminalization [an imposition of trumped-up charges] because we found patterns of irregularities in the case,'€ Yunita told a press briefing at the LBH Jakarta office on Sunday.

Although the Central Jakarta District Court has set a date for the trial of the protesters, the LBH Jakarta, which is defending the suspects, has yet to receive the indictment documents.

An indictment document is supposed to be sent to lawyers at least one week before a trial begins.

Yunita said even during the New Order such prosecutions rarely happened. The LBH Jakarta only recorded two cases, one involving the controversial prosecution of the founder of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI), the late Adnan Buyung Nasution, and another the late human rights defender Yap Thiam Hien, for their efforts defending the weak from massive injustice during the repressive years.

'€œFirst of all, the [labor] rally had acquired permits and it was protected by the Constitution. Even if it did not have the permits, then the heaviest sanction possible was only a dispersal, not prosecution like what is happening to two of our fellow advocates and the workers and students,'€ Yunita said.

Dozens of members of NGOs, including some from the YLBHI and the Yayasan Perempuan Mahardhika foundation, have signed a petition to demand the prosecutor'€™s office withdraw the dossiers of the accused from the court and issue a prosecution termination warrant to clear the charges against the 26 suspects.

The protesters were charged under Article 216 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) for allegedly disobeying police orders during the rally.

Mutiara Ika Pratiwi of Perempuan Mahardhika said that human rights campaigners had strong evidence, such as video footage showing police brutality against protesters and the two lawyers during the rally, to defend the advocates'€™ innocence in the case.

'€œThere are no legal grounds that could justify any kind of prosecution of a peaceful rally,'€ Mutiara said, adding that Obed and Tigor were protected by law No. 18/2003 on advocates, but ironically the police charged them under the KUHP.