In two separate trials on Monday, the three-member bench found Hendra Kurniawan, who at the time of the murder was one of Ferdy’s highest ranking subordinates in the National Police’s internal affairs division, and Agus Nurpatria, Hendra’s own subordinate, guilty of obstructing justice in Yosua’s investigation.

The initial narrative surrounding Yosua’s death suggested that he had been killed in a shootout with Richard Eliezer, another aide-de-camp assigned to Ferdy, on July 8, 2022, at Ferdy’s official residence in South Jakarta before Ferdy had arrived at the scene of the crime.

Presiding judge Ahmad Suhel said on Monday that there was a chain of command, which started from Ferdy, that looked to keep up the false shootout narrative by deleting any CCTV footage that contradicted it.

Hendra, upon receiving instructions from Ferdy, first ordered Agus, who then ordered Irfan Widianto – who at the time was working at the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) – to retrieve the CCTV footage around the scene of the crime.

Hendra then ordered his own men to skim through and delete CCTV footage that showed Yosua still alive when Ferdy entered the house. He also ordered the deletion of footage of Ferdy disembarking from his vehicle wearing a black glove, which Ferdy was wearing when he ultimately fired the lethal shot into Yosua’s head.

Read also: ‘Sense of justice’ in Ferdy Sambo case

The judges said Hendra had instructed another subordinate, Arif Rachman Arifin, to ask South Jakarta Police investigators to file a fictitious sexual harassment report on behalf of Ferdy’s wife Putri Candrawathi, who previously claimed that she was harassed by Yosua in Magelang, Central Java, a day before the murder.

For their involvement in the cover-up, judges sentenced Hendra, a former one-star general, to three years in prison and Agus to two years in prison. Hendra’s sentence matched what prosecutors sought for him, while Agus’ sentence was less than the three years in prison demanded by prosecutors.

The bench cited the two defendants’ convoluted statements, their lack of remorse and their status as police officers as aggravating factors for their sentences.

The sentences would have been harsher, the judges said, if it were not for the fact that the two had not been found guilty of a crime before and were breadwinners for their families.

Read also: Prosecutors file counter-appeal against Ferdy, accomplices

Hendra and Agus’ lawyer Ragahdo Yosidiningrat said his clients had yet to decide whether to appeal the ruling.

“We, as [the defendants’] lawyers, do not agree with the judges’ [ruling], but we do not want to comment too much on it,” Ragahdo told reporters after the trials, as quoted by local media. “With regard to whether or not we will lodge an appeal, [it depends on] our clients, who need time to think it over.”

The sentences for Hendra and Agus concluded a series of trials of police officers that aided in the cover-up of Yosua’s murder case. In separate trials on Thursday and Friday, the South Jakarta District Court sentenced Irfan and Arif to 10 months in prison each, less than the full year demanded by prosecutors.

Meanwhile, Chuck Putranto and Baiquni Wibowo, other subordinates of Ferdy in the internal affairs division, were given one-year prison sentences, less than the two years prosecutors had sought.