FPI leader gets less than six months for church attack

Hans David Tampubolon
The Jakarta Post

Jakarta / Fri, February 25 2011 / 09:29 am

The Bekasi District Court sentenced the suspended leader of the Bekasi branch of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Raya Murhali Barda, to five-and-a-half months in jail on Thursday.

The verdict will allow Murhali to be released from jail next week.

The court’s panel of judges found Murhali guilty of violating Article 335 on misconduct in the Criminal Code and handed down their five-and-a-half-month sentence. Prosecutors had sought six months for Murhali.

The judges found him not guilty of violating Article 170 on battery and Article 160 on spreading hate.

On Sept. 12 of last year, Murhali was accused of attacking a reverend of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP) Church, Luspida Simanjuntak, and congregation member Hasian Sihombing after a long-simmering conflict between church members and local Muslims who objected to the church’s
construction.
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