T

he Central Jakarta District Court held its first hearing implicating two Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) lawyers on Monday who were arrested during a labor protest in front of the State Palace
in October.

A team of prosecutors indicted them for disobeying a police order as the police, on three occasions, urged the protesters to retreat from the front of the palace and continue their rally the next day. The demand from the police was ignored, resulting in the arrest of 23 protesters, as well as the two lawyers and a university student.

The lawyers, Tigor Gempita Hutapea and Obed Sakti Andre Dominika, and university student Hasyim Trias Ruchiat, have been charged with Article 55 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on provoking and committing criminal acts, as well as article 216 and 218 for disobeying police orders.

The defendants expressed their objection to the charges.

'€œWhy are we charged with Article 55? What kind of criminal act have we committed?'€ Tigor said during the hearing.

Tigor said after the hearing that he was disappointed by the threadbare explanations given to his objections.

'€œWe have never been named suspects. The police arrested me and Obed as witnesses but then suddenly we became defendants. That breaks legal procedure,'€ Tigor said, adding that there were also inconsistencies in the letters of summons.

'€œWe both got the letters last week. One letter stated that we were charged with Article 216 of the Criminal Code, and one letter stated that we were charged with crimes against decency,'€ Tigor said.

He criticized the prosecutors, who he labeled incompetent.

The prosecutors clarified in the hearing that the mistaken letter was a indeed a mistake on their part.

The defendants, along with their lawyers, will propose a demurrer in the proceedings.

Concerning the prosecutors, one of the lawyers for the defendants, Maruli Tua Rajagukguk, said that the prosecutors should be sacked from their jobs for being unprofessional.

'€œThey have to be fired so that there will not be any more prosecutors like them in the future,'€ Maruli said.

Tigor and Obed were assisting the labor protesters and were collecting the names of the arrested protestors. They were later apprehended by the police and taken to the Jakarta Police headquarters.

The labor workers at the rally demanded the revocation of a newly issued government regulation stipulating that the calculation of the minimum wage increase must take into account the current fiscal year'€™s inflation rate and gross domestic product growth. (wnd)