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View all search resultsAnother dark chapter
The acid attack against Andrie Yunus is now at risk of becoming another case of justice eluded, proving yet again that the public has nothing to expect from the justice system.
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Four Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel found guilty of throwing acid at human rights activist Andrie Yunus leave after their verdict hearing on June 10 at the Jakarta Military Court. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
R
ights defender Andrie Yunus repeatedly asked for the trial against soldiers involved in the March acid attack that left him blind in one eye to be held in a civilian court, not a military tribunal, for fear of impunity.
Three months later, on June 10, the Jakarta Military Court sentenced the four soldiers to between 8 months and three years, in what rights groups describe as light sentences and a trial designed to hide the full truth in the premeditated attack against Andrie.
The fact that a pretrial ruling from a district court has ordered the case be investigated by the police briefly gave hope that his attackers would be tried at a civilian court to ensure accountability and uncover the full chain of command. But the military court pressed ahead.
The military judges held the soldiers did not act on orders but on their own initiative out of their resentment over Andrie’s anti-militarist activism, in line with the military prosecutors’ contention. Two of the four defendants were dismissed from the military.
Rights groups immediately condemned the sentences and the failure of the military justice system to find the actual mastermind higher up in the chain of command.
The anger is righteous since the sentences hardly reflect a sense of justice, amid growing concerns over expanded military roles in civilian affairs and democratic backsliding.
The charges against the soldiers for premeditated assault causing serious injuries carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
