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Riau court rejected on Tuesday a lawsuit challenging the dropping of charges against a plantation company that had been suspected of causing one of the biggest forest fires the last two decades.

Judge Sorta Ria Neva of Pekanbaru District Court ruled in a pretrial hearing that the Riau Police’s issuance in June of an investigation termination warrant (SP3) for PT Sumatra Riang Lestari (SRL) had followed procedures.

In her consideration Sorta said that the defendants, the Riau Police, had the discretion to terminate the investigation as stipulated in Article 19 (1) of Law No. 2/2012 on the police and that the implementation of the authority was based on the Criminal Code.

“From the evidence submitted by the defendants, no principle was violated in the issuance of the SP3,” Sorta said while delivering the ruling.

Among the evidence submitted by the defendants to the court was the warrant to start the investigation (SPDP) sent to the prosecutor as stipulated in Article 109 (1) of the Criminal Law Procedure Code (KUHAP) and the National Police Chief Regulation No 14/2012 on crime investigation management.

Riau Police had charged 15 plantation companies for allegedly starting fires in 2015, which were recorded as among the worst forest fires since 1998.

In the same year that also marked the downfall of the country’s ruler Soeharto, the government had attempted to open 1 million hectares of peatland in Kalimantan for agricultural use, causing massive fires and a haze that spread to neighboring countries.

The charges against the 15 companies were later dropped with the issuance of the SP3s in June.

The Riau branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi Riau) later filed a pretrial lawsuit to challenge the investigation termination.

During the hearing the defendants’ lawyers Denny Siahaan, Abdul Kadir, Rusli, Nerwan and Agus Setiawan also presented evidence showing that the SP3 was issued because the investigators could not prove that the company had deliberately started fires in its concession area.

Denny presented the result of an investigation revealing facts that the fire on SRL’s concession spread from an area managed by a group of people outside the concession area. Sorta said the burned areas comprised an acacia tree plantation that was ready for harvesting and for which the logging license had been issued.

Walhi Riau’s lawyer Even Sembiring claimed the issuance of the SP3 for SRL was contrary to justice.

“The judge did not consider the evidence we presented. The ruling was made based on incorrect considerations,” Even said.

He said there was a breach in the procedure by which the defendants filed evidence.

He also questioned the absence of expert witnesses whose testimony was used by the police to issue the SP3.

Even expressed disappointment at the Pekanbaru District Court for appointing Sorta for the pretrial hearing.

He said with Sorta as judge the pretrial hearing did not consider missing evidence in the case.

“We will examine and study the recordings of the SP3 hearings over which Sorta presided. She several times said, ‘why are people not partnering with the companies?’. This is against the judge’s code of ethics. We will report her to the Judicial Commission,” he said.

Earlier, another plantation company in Palembang also walked free after a court could not prove the environmental damage caused by the fires that the company had started.