A

n ongoing civil lawsuit against an expert witness, who recently testified against graft convict and suspended Southeast Sulawesi governor Nur Alam, has raised concerns among activists.

They see the case as a setback for antigraft and environmental campaigners.

It all started when Nur filed a suit against Basuki Wasis, an environmental destruction expert from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), on March 12, accusing the later of being reckless in calculating the potential environmental losses in Nur’s graft case, which amounted to Rp 2.7 trillion (US$196 million).

Nur accused Basuki, along with members of his team and the IPB, of committing tort or a wrongful act that causes others to suffer losses and results in civil legal liability for the perpetrator, which is laid out in the Civil Code.

Nur demanded that Basuki, who was assigned by the IPB to do the calculation on behalf of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), pay Rp 1.47 billion in material losses and Rp 3 trillion in damages “from the effect of suspect naming and prosecution by the KPK, which was caused by the calculation”.

The lawsuit was filed weeks before Nur was found guilty of corruption relating to the issuance of a mining permit. It was somewhat ironic, given that the judges did not include Basuki’s calculation when they sentenced him to 12 years in prison earlier this month.

“The lawsuit was filed at Cibinong District Court even when the corruption court had yet to make a ruling in the case,” Basuki said on Monday.

Activists immediately responded by calling the lawsuit a bad precedent for future investigations. “If all experts are facing similar risks due to lawsuits, then lots of academics will have to deal with it. This could weaken the judiciary, particularly in the context of mitigating environmental damages,” said Hendri Subagiyo from the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law.

Hendri cited a number of regulations to protect experts testifying in court, like the 2014 Victim and Witness Protection Law.

Basuki’s lawyer, Muji Kartika Rahayu, said such protection was also stipulated in the 2009 Environment Protection Law. “More specifically, article 66 of the law grants immunity to a person, who fights for the environment, in both civil and criminal courts,” Muji said. “Basuki is eligible for the protection.”

Muhammad Isnur from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) suspected the lawsuit against Basuki was “a form of strategic lawsuit against public participation [SLAPP]” that was intended to silence critics.

As the hearing rolled out at the Cibinong court, the KPK assigned its legal bureau to provide necessary legal assistance to Basuki and his team. “We are [also] considering becoming an intervening party in the lawsuit as the KPK has some interest there,” its deputy chairman, Laode Muhammad Syarif, said.

The lawsuit, at the same time, raised another question on the authorities’ ability to protect expert witnesses in environmental cases, as it was not the first lawsuit against an expert witness.

Last year, palm oil company PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa filed a similar civil lawsuit against Basuki challenging his soil test report regarding scorched land in Riau, which was used by the environment ministry to prosecute the company in a forest fire case. The company initially demanded that Basuki pay Rp 600 billion in the lawsuit before it eventually ended in mediation, which resulted in a peaceful settlement between the two parties.