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Police arrest murder suspect after old case goes viral
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Illustration of a crime scene. (Shutterstock.com/Prath)
C
laims that the police only act when a case goes viral resurfaced following the arrest of an alleged mastermind in a 2016 murder case, which regained popularity after it was turned into a movie recently.
The West Java Police arrested Pegi Setiawan, a fugitive for eight years, in the city of Bandung on May 21, just two weeks after the release of a movie based on a true story titled Vina: Sebelum 7 Hari (Vina: Before 7 Days) on May 8.
The movie is centered on the deaths of two 16-year-olds, Vina and Eky in Cirebon, West Java, on Aug. 27, 2016, the investigation into which appeared to be marred by irregularities.
The police at first said a motorcycle crash was their cause of death, before revising it to gang rape and murder following protests from Vina’s family who saw no sign of a fatal accident at the scene.
After a series of investigations, the police named 11 suspects in the case but only managed to arrest eight of them on charges of attempted murder. The last three suspects remained at large for years, until the case came into the spotlight again in the past weeks.
Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chairman Sugeng Teguh said the police’s recent move to arrest Pegi, who was reported to be the murder mastermind, just emphasized the principle of “no viral, no justice” that had been associated with the institution for some time.
The tagline resembles the #PercumaLaporPolisi (no use going to the police) sentiment that became a trending topic on X, formerly Twitter, some years ago in regard to the South Sulawesi Police’s neglect of a child abuse case.
