Burhanuddin issued Guideline No. 7/2020 on Aug. 6, stipulating that summoning, examining, searching, arresting and detaining prosecutors suspected of being involved in a criminal act could only be conducted with the permission of the attorney general.

“Given that it has created disharmony between those tasked with doing their duty, its implementation is considered inappropriate, therefore the guideline is revoked,” Attorney General’s Office (AGO) spokesman Hari Setiyono said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

The revocation is stipulated in Attorney General Decree No. 163/2020 issued on Tuesday.

Hari said the now-revoked guideline had been issued by referring to Article 8 of Law No. 16/2004 on the AGO, which stipulates the same provision.

This article has led to different interpretations in its implementation, Hari said, which prompted the attorney general to issue the guideline.

“It has been a long study, but it still needs further harmonization and synchronization with the Law and Human Rights Ministry and related agencies,” he said.

The Aug. 6 guideline had not actually been officially circulated by the AGO, Hari said, adding that the office would look into who had unofficially circulated the information about the guideline, which had also made the rounds on WhatsApp recently.

Several institutions and law experts have responded to the issuance of the guideline.

“When law enforcement officials, either the police, prosecutors, judges or advocates [commit a crime], the Criminal Code applies forcefully. This can’t be undermined by internal rules or community rules,” criminal law expert Abdul Fickar Hadjar said on Tuesday.

“Issuing something like this during this ‘pandemic’ of the Djoko Tjandra case and the investigation into prosecutor [Pinangki Sirna Malasari], will certainly raise cynicism and public suspicion,” Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Nawawi Pomolango said.

In the now-revoked guideline, the attorney general also regulated the procedures for obtaining his permission, whereby any agency seeking to summon, examine, search, arrest or detain a prosecutor had to submit an application to his office.

The application could be rejected if it lacked urgency or if the required documents were incomplete. However, the AGO’s permission would not be needed if prosecutors had already been caught in the act of committing a crime, the guideline said. (syk)

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