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BREAKING: Police detain antigovernment activist Ratna Sarumpaet
Ratna is being charged under Article 14 of the Criminal Code for spreading fake news that could cause restlessness as well as Article 28 of the Electronic Transactions and Information (ITE) Law on spreading fake news that could harm consumers and spread hate speech.
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Breaking News (TJP/File)
T
he Jakarta Police detained actress and political activist Ratna Sarumpaet on Friday night after naming her a suspect of spreading fake news, after she falsely claimed she was assaulted.
She was detained after being arrested at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday and questioned at the police headquarters.
She was planning to go to Chile.
Read also: Ratna arrested at Soekarno-Hatta
The former member of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s campaign team got into trouble when she claimed on Tuesday that she had been assaulted by three assailants in Bandung, West Java, after a photo showing her with a swollen face went viral.
The police later investigated the case and found out that it was the result of cosmetic surgery, forcing her to retract her claims.
A day later, Ratna admitted that it was a lie and apologized, saying that her swollen face was the result of liposuction and that the assault never happened.
She is being charged under Article 14 of the Criminal Code for spreading fake news that could cause restlessness as well as Article 28 of the Electronic Transactions and Information (ITE) Law on spreading fake news and hate speech.
A number of parties reported her to the police despite her apology. The Prabowo campaign dismissed her soon after she admitted that she had lied.
The police said Ratna was named a suspect in the case because she had ignored previous summonses.
Her lawyer, Insank Nasrudin, said the police did not need to detain her. “There’s no need to detain her. She is cooperative. Besides, she’s an old lady, where will she go?”
It is not the first time that she has made controversial statements about the government and other issues that could not be confirmed or were outright wrong.
Last year, she posted on her Twitter account that the government had sold state aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia to China. The company then denied her accusation and she later apologized.
In May, Ratna tweeted that the government had issued a Rp 200,000 bank note as a consequence of the weakening rupiah against the US dollar. Bank Indonesian said no new currency was issued and that Ratna's claim was a hoax.
