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Ratna Sarumpaet gets two years in prison
The South Jakarta District Court on Thursday sentenced actress-cum-political activist Ratna Sarumpaet to two years in prison after finding her guilty of spreading a hoax and stirring public confusion
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span>The South Jakarta District Court on Thursday sentenced actress-cum-political activist Ratna Sarumpaet to two years in prison after finding her guilty of spreading a hoax and stirring public confusion.
Ratna, a renowned opposition figure, grabbed national headlines last year when, to cover up the fact she had just had facial surgery, she falsely claimed that she had been attacked by unidentified assailants.
Before Ratna herself admitted that she had been lying, opposition leaders, including losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, insinuated that the reported attack against Ratna had been politically motivated.
Prabowo was quick to apologize for helping to spread Ratna’s lie.
The 64-year-old was found guilty of violating Article 14 of the Criminal Code, which stipulates that any person who is convicted of intentionally spreading misinformation and stirring public confusion is subject to a maximum of 10 years in prison.
“The defendant has been proven guilty and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment,” presiding judge Jony said during the trial.
On Oct. 2 last year, a picture depicting Ratna’s swollen eyes and bruised face circulated on the internet and went viral.
Ratna was then reported to have sustained several injuries to her face after being assaulted at an airport in Bandung on Sept. 21, 2018. The reports said the attack took place when Ratna was looking for a taxi with her Sri Lankan and Malaysian friends to take them to their hotel after attending a conference.
On the very next day, it was revealed that Ratna had lied about her condition, as she in fact had not been assaulted but had instead undergone facial surgery.
A police investigation revealed that many of her claims did not add up. Ratna quickly admitted that she lied about her assault hours after the police held a press conference to question the odd aspects of her claims.
“There was no assault. It was just a delusion that I created because I was under Satan’s influence,” Ratna said at that time.
On Oct. 5, 2018, the police detained Ratna after charging her with spreading fake news under Article 14 of the Criminal Code and Article 28 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.
The sentence handed down by the court was lighter than what the prosecutors had demanded. On May 28, they asked the court to give Ratna a six-year prison sentence for intentionally making the public feel unease by spreading misinformation.
During the trial, Ratna denied speculations that her stunt was politically motivated, saying that she lied to cover up the fact that she had undergone facial surgery four times.
Ratna’s defense lawyer, Insank Nasrudin, told the bench that they were still considering whether to appeal the verdict.
Born into a political family — her father was the cofounder of the Indonesian Christian Party — Ratna was known as a playwright and actress who was often critical of the powers-that-be.
She was an outspoken critic of then-Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, particularly his eviction policies, and also of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
In 2018, she was appointed to be a member of the Prabowo campaign team, but was removed from the team after the scandal broke out.
