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Court annuls suspect status of 3 men arrested for robbery
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The court granted on Tuesday a pretrial petition filed by Herianto, 21, Aris, 33, and Bihin, 39, who demanded the annulment of their suspect status. (Shutterstock/File)
A
judge at the South Jakarta District Court has ruled that police breached procedures in the arrest and investigation of three suspects in a motorcycle robbery case.
The court granted on Tuesday a pretrial petition filed by Herianto, 21, Aris, 33, and Bihin, 39, who demanded the annulment of their suspect status.
"[The court] declares that the suspect status of the three plaintiffs is illegitimate and not in accordance with the law," judge Martin Ponto said.
Martin said that the process of the arrest and the investigation carried out by the Jakarta Police had breached due procedures, including the absence of a letter authorizing raids on the plaintiffs' houses from the Bekasi District Court in West Java, where the robbery took place last year.
"The judge could not find a letter from the relevant court that approved and ordered the raid. The raid was also not witnessed by at least two residents so it was illegitimate," Martin added.
The three plaintiffs were arrested last month in their houses in Tangerang, Banten. Jakarta Legal Aid Institute lawyer Bunga Siagian, who represented the men in the case, said the three were tortured by police investigators prior to confessing to the crime.
Bunga had presented evidence of the alleged torture during a previous hearing, but Martin said the pretrial hearing could not touch on that matter because it should be handled by a criminal court.
