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Artidjo retirement may lead to mushrooming of case review: Expert
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Loyalty: Former Supreme Court justice Artidjo Alkostar shows his autobiography during a press conference at the Supreme Court's media center in Jakarta on May 25. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
C
orruption convicts who submitted case review requests following the retirement of Artidjo Alkostar, a Supreme Court justice famous for his harsh punishment of perpetrators, were trying their luck, a legal expert warned on Friday.
Abdul Fickar Hadjar made the statement after several corruption convicts submitted their case review requests last month.
Former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali submitted his case review request on May 5, followed by former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and former health minister Siti Fadilah Supari on May 24 and May 31, respectively.
Although all of them denied that they were taking advantage of Artidjo’s retirement, Abdul said the convicts were clearly using the momentum of the justice’s retirement to try their luck to get their cases reviewed.
“Although the Supreme Court has issued several regulations that support the eradication of corruption, only a few Supreme Court justices are committed to implement them. Artidjo was one of them," he told The jakarta Post on Friday.
Abdul said the mushrooming case review requests, which he dubbed the Artidjo Phenomenon, might stop if the Supreme Court found another justice who had a strong commitment to the eradication of corruption like Artidjo.
After serving the Supreme Court for 18 years, Artidjo retired on May 22 following his 70th birthday. He had a reputation of being a strict justice and often added more charges to punish corruption convicts. In March, Artidjo rejected former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s case review request. (dpk/ebf)
