Presiding judge Singgih Budi Prakoso said on Wednesday that the appellate bench agreed with the South Jakarta District Court’s February verdict and death sentence, which exceeded the prosecution’s demand of life in prison.

“After the panel of judges at the appellate court reviewed, studied, scrutinized and examined carefully the entire case file [...] the judges are of the opinion that the [South Jakarta District Court ruling] has been thoroughly considered and is legally correct,” Singgih said.

“As such, the memorandum of appeal filed by Ferdy’s lawyers must be set aside […] and the [South Jakarta District Court ruling] against Ferdy can be upheld,” he added.

Among the bench’s considerations were the fact that Ferdy had never admitted to masterminding Yosua’s murder and that he had stuck to his claim that Yosua had assaulted his wife, Putri Chandrawathi, which stood in contrast to the evidence presented by prosecutors during court proceedings.

Singgih also said Ferdy’s death sentence – the first time in decades a police general has been given such a harsh sentence – served as a deterrent and set a precedent that no one was above the law.

Despite losing the high court appeal, which he filed on March 3, Ferdy may still appeal his conviction and sentencing at the Supreme Court.

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

Yosua’s murder case is the biggest scandal to hit the National Police in recent memory and gripped the nation for months.

The initial narrative surrounding the incident suggested that Yosua had been killed in a shoot-out with fellow aide-de-camp Richard Eliezer at Ferdy’s official residence in South Jakarta in July 2022. Richard at the time was an enlisted officer who ranked below Yosua.

But the South Jakarta District Court concluded in a hearing in February that Ferdy, instead, had fired the fatal shot after Richard shot Yosua on Ferdy’s command. It also concluded that Ferdy had enlisted the help of accomplices Kuat Ma’ruf, a private chauffeur and domestic assistant for Ferdy’s family, and another aide-de-camp Ricky Rizal.

The panel of judges found that Ferdy had instructed several police officers to destroy CCTV footage that showed Yosua alive when Ferdy entered the house, in an attempt to maintain the initial narrative.

The same court in the same month also sentenced Putri, Kuat and Ricky to 20, 15 and 13 years of in prison, respectively, all beyond the sentencing demands of prosecutors.

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

Meanwhile, despite having shot the victim at the order of his commanding officer Ferdy and being involved in the murder plot, Richard received 18 months in prison, a much lighter sentence than the 12 years sought by prosecutors. This was because he agreed to cooperate with authorities to shed light on the case.

Richard did not appeal the ruling, while Putri, Kuat and Ricky lost their appeals against their 20, 15 and 13 years sentences, respectively, on Wednesday.

Yosua’s murder case caused public trust in the National Police to plummet, opinion surveys showed at the time, while also sparking calls for wide police reform.

But the latest survey by Indikator Politik Indonesia suggests that the police’s reputation has begun to recover, with 68.4 percent of respondents saying they trusted the institution in February, higher than the 58 percent who answered the same way in November of last year, when Ferdy was in the midst of his trial.