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Prosecutors call for Jambi rape victim to be punished to deter abortion
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Save Our Sisters activists hold a rally in front of the Jambi Prosecutor's Office on July 26 to demand the release of a 15-year-old girl who was sent to prison for aborting her pregnancy after being raped by her brother. (JP/Jon Afrizal)
T
he Muarabulian Prosecutor's Office has appealed the Jambi High Court’s verdict to acquit a 15-year-old rape victim in Jambi of abortion, saying her punishment would serve as a “lesson”.
Prosecutor Fajar Rudi Manurung said the girl, who has returned to school, was not only a rape victim but also a perpetrator of abortion, which is illegal in Indonesia.
“The baby had formed complete body parts. And she killed the baby. That’s the aggravating factor,” he said on Monday.
He called on the public to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision on the case, saying the court might have different considerations.
Save Our Sisters spokesman Zubaidah, meanwhile, said the 15-year-old girl could not be charged with abortion because she was a rape victim.
She said that the prosecutors should know that justice for rape victims involved being free from trauma.
“What the prosecutors are doing is only worsening [the girl’s] psychological condition.”
The Jambi rape case has attracted national and even global attention, with critics saying that the rape victim should have never been prosecuted in the first place.
Indonesia bans abortion except for health reasons or for rape victims whose pregnancy is within 40 days of conception. (ahw)
