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Analysis: Court showcases, justice collaboration pays
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A judge hammer lays on the Chief Judge table of the trial in Corruption court, Jakarta on Monday January 20, 2020 (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
H
ere is what the court has established in the murder case of Brig. Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat: Second Agency Richard Eliezer fired five times at point blank and Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo, at the time the internal affairs chief of the National Police, finished the job by firing two more shots. Ferdy got the death sentence and Richard 18 months in jail as the South Jakarta District Court wrapped up the high profile murder trials last week.
The difference between the two is that while Richard fully cooperated with the court, Ferdy lied throughout the hearings. The court recognized Richard’s role as a justice collaborator who helped reveal the mystery of the July 8, 2022 murder. In court, it came down to his word against Ferdy’s and three other accomplices, including Sambo’s wife Putri Chandrawathi.
The court went with Richard’s version of the event to establish that it was a premeditated murder and gave Ferdy the maximum penalty allowed under the penal code. It found that 24-year old Richard, who like Yosua was an adjutant to Ferdy, was carrying out an order from his boss, and given their power relations he could not have refused.
Richard applied for justice collaboration status a week after the case came to light. His story, that he shot Yosua five times and Ferdy two more, destroyed the version that Ferdy had put out, with the help of the entire National Police information division, that there was a shootout between Yosua and Richard, and that Yosua had completely missed his target.
The Witness and Protection Agency (LPSK) had given Richard protection against the possibility of henchmen hired by Ferdy attempting his life. When the court read out the verdict on Feb. 15, LPSK officers wearing bullet-proof vests surrounded Richard, who refused to wear one himself, against possible snipers.
The LPSK wrote to the public prosecutors and judges handling the case to go for the lightest sentence possible. The prosecutors ignored it and sought 12 years imprisonment, but the court recognized the role Richard played in resolving the murder case. The agency has further written to the court asking for a sentence remission for its client’s good behavior. If the court agrees, Richard, who has been detained since August 2022 in an undisclosed location, will be free by May.
The court never established the real motive for the murder but dismissed Ferdy’s claim that Yosua had raped Putri and that he got so emotional and decided to take revenge. Ferdy claimed that Richard mistook his burst of anger as an order to kill Yosua. The court again said given their power relations, it would have been inconceivable that Yosua would sexually harass the wife of his boss. Putri in court supported Ferdy’s claim of rape. She got 20 years, and another junior officer, Ricky Rizal, and driver Kuat Ma’ruf got 13 and 15 years, respectively.
