Sirra said in a press conference on Wednesday that Ahok and his team had accepted the decision of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) to name him a suspect after conducting a case screening.

“We, therefore, will not file a pretrial motion,” he said. 

(Read also: Ahok named suspect in blasphemy case)

Sirra said the legal team would focus on the case while Ahok would continue campaigning for next year's gubernatorial election with his running mate, incumbent Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat.

“We do not want to prolong the polemic,” he said. 

He added that if he filed a pretrial motion, it would suggest that he did not believe in the professionalism of the police.

On Tuesday, Bareskrim investigators heard statements by dozens of witnesses and experts during a 10-hour closed-door hearing in the case screening.

The police decided to hold a case screening after more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Central Jakarta on Nov. 4, demanding that Ahok be prosecuted for blasphemy, based on a video featuring the governor commenting on a verse in the Quran during a visit to Thousand Islands regency in late September.(jun)

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