TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Kontras leader questions defamation charges against him
Human rights activist Haris Azhar has questioned the move by the National Police, Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to report him on allegations of defamation to the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim).
Change Size
All ready -- Indonesian Advocates Association (Peradi) chairman Luhut Pangaribuan (left) and Haris Azhar (right), coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS), show a signed document on Monday, through which the latter officially allow Peradi to give him legal assistance in a defamation case against the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN).
(thejakartapost.com/Winda Ayu Charmila)
H
uman rights activist Haris Azhar has questioned the move by the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to report him on allegations of defamation to the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim).
Haris finds it strange that while they continue to proceed with the charges, the three state institutions also aim to investigate the validity of a statement from executed drug lord Freddy Budiman in which he claimed that state security officials were complicit in his illegal activities.
“If they want to investigate the validity of the statement, they should ask me to cooperate with them [instead of filing a report with the police],” said the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Monday.
(Read also : Haris Azhar should be treated as justice collaborator)
Haris was reported to Bareskrim last week for defamation after he released the statement Freddy gave him in a 2014 meeting on social media. Some police, military and BNN officials have said they are determined to continue the legal process against Haris, although they are also ready to investigate the validity of the statement released by the activist one day before Freddy was executed on July 29.
National Police spokesman Insp.Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said on Monday that the police were still working to determine the validity of Freddy’s statement and promised they would be objective in handling the case.
Haris is accused of breaching the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law for allegedly circulating defamatory information on social media.
Boy said earlier that the police filed the report against Haris to serve as a lesson to people on how to properly lodge criticism without defaming others. (wnd/ebf)
