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‘Pesantren’ teacher sentenced to death for raping 13 students
The teacher had been found guilty of raping 13 female students, all of whom were minors at the time, and impregnating at least eight of them.
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he Bandung High Court sentenced Herry Wirawan, a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) teacher from Bandung, West Java, to death for the rape of more than a dozen students in a case that has shed light on sexual abuse at the country’s religious boarding schools.
The court handed down its verdict on Monday after prosecutors filed an appeal against a lower court’s sentence of life imprisonment for Herry.
The teacher had been found guilty of raping 13 female students, all of whom were minors at the time, and impregnating at least eight of them.
The high court judges wrote that the fact that Herry’s actions had caused trauma and suffering for the victims and their parents had contributed to the panel’s decision to sentence him to death.
The court also ordered Herry to pay more than Rp 300 million (US$20,909) in restitution for the victims, amending the lower court’s order that the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry pay the restitution.
The bench also ordered the seizure and auction of Herry’s assets, the proceeds of which are to be used to provide financial support for the victims and their children.
Herry’s sentence has drawn mixed responses from public officials, particularly over whether it will have a deterrent effect on would-be criminals.
Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga welcomed the high court’s verdict, saying she hoped it would prevent the occurrence of similar crimes.
“[We hope that] the death penalty and imposition of [the liability for] restitution on the perpetrator will not only provide a deterrent effect and prevent the recurrence of the same case in the future, but also serve the best interests of the victims and their children," Bintang said in a statement on Monday.
The Indonesian Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), however, which has long called on the country to abolish the death penalty, highlighted the absence of correlation between the imposition of the death penalty in a jurisdiction and decreased crime. The commission noted that the right to life was enshrined in the Constitution as inalienable.
“Studies on the death penalty have revealed that there is no correlation between capital punishment and a deterrent effect that would result in the decline of crimes such as sexual abuse, terrorism or narcotics,” said Komnas HAM chair Ahmad Taufan Damanik.
Ahmad added that in a draft amendment to the Criminal Code, capital punishment for special crimes was to be accompanied by a probationary period, during which the sentence could be commuted to a life sentence if the convict showed good behavior.
Ahmad emphasized that Komnas HAM empathized with the victims and that the commission supported the push for restitution and rehabilitation for them.
“We strongly support restitution, rehabilitation and more serious attention [to victims], in the case of Herry Wirawan, as well as in other cases,” said Ahmad.
Separately, Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) commissioner Retno Listyarti said she welcomed the restitution order, noting that the lower court’s ruling could have set a bad precedent in the country’s fight against sexual violence.
“The perpetrator of such a crime would feel comfortable if he was not burdened with compensation in the form of restitution to the victim, and that would have the potential to eliminate the deterrent effect,” said Retno.
