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Ratna Sarumpaet granted conditional release after serving 15 months for spreading hoax
Ratna was released after serving 15 months of a 24-month prison sentence.
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Ratna Sarumpaet (Kompas.com/Kristianto Purnomo)
A
ctress-cum-political activist Ratna Sarumpaet, who was sentenced in July to two years’ imprisonment for disseminating a hoax, was freed from prison on Thursday after securing a conditional release.
Ratna’s lawyer, Desmihardi, said she was released after serving 15 months of a 24-month prison sentence, which included the time she spent in detention after her arrest in October last year.
“She was released after her request for conditional release was granted. Besides, the Law and Human Rights Ministry also gave her remission for Idul Fitri and Aug. 17 [Independence Day],” Desmihardi said as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.
Ratna, a former campaign team member of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, made headlines in September last year after claiming that she had been assaulted by a group of men at an airport in Bandung, West Java.
She suggested that the assault was related to her political campaign on behalf of Prabowo, who currently serves as defense minister.
After investigating her claims, the police arrested Ratna on Oct. 4 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.
The police found that her previously swollen face – seen in photos that made the rounds on social media – was the result of cosmetic surgery. Ratna herself later admitted that there had been no assault and that she indeed had surgery.
The South Jakarta District Court sentenced her to two years in prison on July 11 after finding her guilty of violating Article 14 of the Criminal Code on hoaxes and misleading the public. The sentence was lighter than the prosecutors’ demand of six years’ imprisonment. (afr)
