The retired general was arrested by the National Police on May 20 for allegedly smuggling an M4 Carbine from Aceh and for allegedly giving instructions to besiege the General Elections Commission (KPU) building and the Presidential Palace on May 22, as shown in a viral video.

Lawyer Ferry Firman Nurwahyu rejected allegations that his client was in possession of the rifle, claiming that the Army general had only known about an M16A1, another type of rifle similar to the M4 Carbine, that he had requested to be fixed while he was leading the Iskandar Muda Military Regional Command (Kodam Aceh).

“Kodam Aceh ran an operation to secure rifles collected by civilians. In the operation, they managed to collect two AK47 rifles and an M16A1 rifle. In 2009, Soenarko requested that the M16A1’s broken filler be fixed by Kopassus,” Ferry said.

He added that according to his client, only Kopassus could fix the M16A1 rifle, which bears similarities to the M4 Carbine. He said that Soenarko wanted the rifle to be stored at a Kopassus museum after being fixed, citing the latter’s admiration for the war weapon.

“He made the request by following the procedures 10 years ago. However, the rifle was only claimed to be sent to him [by Kodam Aceh] in 2019, without his knowledge, during the political year. It’s only normal for us to question what’s behind this,” Ferry said.

The lawyer team claimed that Soenarko had never got hold of the rifle before his arrest, and he had only known that the weapon had been sent to him after his arrest.

Soenarko, who is a supporter of Prabowo Subianto, was seen in a viral video planning the May 22 rally to challenge the KPU’s announcement of the victory of incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Thousands of people took to the streets on May 21 and 22 in front of the Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) office, after the KPU announced Jokowi’s victory over Prabowo. The protests were followed by deadly riots in at least five places in Jakarta until the early hours of May 23. At least eight individuals died during the riots, while some 700 others were injured.

Lawyer U. Susiasih added that the team had asked the police to identify and investigate the people who distributed the video of Soenarko, in which he allegedly announced his plan to seize the KPU building and the Presidential Palace.

Susiasih said the video was recorded and distributed without Soenarko’s permission.

“In the video, Soenarko was just casually talking to Prabowo’s supporters regarding the May 22 rally. He wasn’t making a speech to invite people to riot. There’s nothing wrong about holding rallies, freedom of speech is protected under the Constitution,” she said.

Ferry said the police had violated the criminal procedural law in naming Soenarko a suspect and arresting him.

“There should have been an initial police investigation, followed by another investigation. In naming someone a suspect, there should have been a preliminary hearing. It can’t be done suddenly as they did to Soenarko,” Ferry said.

Soenarko is currently in National Police custody at Guntur Military Detention Center. Along with him, the police also arrested another person, identified only as Chief Pvt. BP.

The National Police rejected the claims, ensuring that they had handled the case professionally as regulated in Emergency Law No.12/1951 on firearm ownership.

The law stipulates that any citizen illegally possessing or smuggling a firearm faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“If the lawyer team feels that we didn’t follow the procedures, the team can challenge us legally by filing a pretrial motion against us in naming Soenarko a suspect and detaining him,” National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Dedi said the police had ensured the transparency and fairness of the legal proceedings it conducted against Soenarko and would continue to do so.

Ferry said his team had requested that Soenarko’s detention be suspended.

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