Journalists, comedians rally to support friend
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Ikram Putra
The Jakarta Post/Depok
More than 50 journalists and television personalities packed into Depok District Court on Wednesday to offer their support to a journalist charged with slandering state prosecutors in an opinion article.
In an earlier court session, prosecutors sought an eight-month jail term for former Tempo magazine journalist Bersihar Lubis.
“There is quite a team gathered here today, unlike in previous sessions,” presiding judge Suwidya said in court Wednesday.
Bersihar, who represented himself in an earlier six sessions, was accompanied by a team of lawyers from the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers).
“I don’t understand the legal system as well as I understand journalism,” Bersihar said.
Senior journalist Fikri Jufri and actors from the political satire Republik Mimpi were among those in attendance.
Bersihar was charged with insulting the Attorney General’s Office in an opinion article published in the Koran Tempo daily on March 17.
The article, titled “The tale of an idiot prosecutor”, criticized a ban on several history books issued by the prosecutor’s office on March 5.
The textbooks refer to the foiled 1965 coup attempt as G30S rather than G30S/PKI, which is the officially preferred acronym for the Sept. 30 Movement/the Indonesian Communist Party.
In his article, Bersihar said several authors had questioned the New Order government’s claims regarding the PKI’s role in the coup.
Bersihar also quoted Joesoef Ishak, the publisher of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s works.
“I was tortured by the idiocy of prosecutors and they had been tortured by the idiocy of their bosses,” the quote read.
Pramoedya was imprisoned for a period of time during the Soeharto administration for supporting the now-banned communist party, despite the fact this could not be proved in court.
Bersihar has maintained he is innocent of the charges filed against him as he has the Constitutional right to express his opinions.
“Charge me with violating the Press law, not the Criminal Code. Anyway, it was up to the editors of Koran Tempo to decide whether or not to publish my article so they could also be involved in this case.”
In court, Tikyono said the case had nothing to do with the Press Law as the alleged wrongdoing was committed by an individual and not a media company.
Bersihar’s lawyers asked the judges for more time so as they could draft a written argument. They said their client was yet to receive all of the relevant court documents, including the prosecutor’s dossier.
As the prosecution team had no objections to the request, the panel of judges agreed to adjourn the trial until Jan. 9.
The judges said they would deliver their verdict after the defendant submitted his final argument.
“No one can interfere with our decision, not even the ‘Vice President’,” judge Suwidya said, referring to comedian Jarwo Kuat who impersonates Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Republik Mimpi.
The Jakarta Post/Depok
More than 50 journalists and television personalities packed into Depok District Court on Wednesday to offer their support to a journalist charged with slandering state prosecutors in an opinion article.
In an earlier court session, prosecutors sought an eight-month jail term for former Tempo magazine journalist Bersihar Lubis.
“There is quite a team gathered here today, unlike in previous sessions,” presiding judge Suwidya said in court Wednesday.
Bersihar, who represented himself in an earlier six sessions, was accompanied by a team of lawyers from the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers).
“I don’t understand the legal system as well as I understand journalism,” Bersihar said.
Senior journalist Fikri Jufri and actors from the political satire Republik Mimpi were among those in attendance.
Bersihar was charged with insulting the Attorney General’s Office in an opinion article published in the Koran Tempo daily on March 17.
The article, titled “The tale of an idiot prosecutor”, criticized a ban on several history books issued by the prosecutor’s office on March 5.
The textbooks refer to the foiled 1965 coup attempt as G30S rather than G30S/PKI, which is the officially preferred acronym for the Sept. 30 Movement/the Indonesian Communist Party.
In his article, Bersihar said several authors had questioned the New Order government’s claims regarding the PKI’s role in the coup.
Bersihar also quoted Joesoef Ishak, the publisher of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s works.
“I was tortured by the idiocy of prosecutors and they had been tortured by the idiocy of their bosses,” the quote read.
Pramoedya was imprisoned for a period of time during the Soeharto administration for supporting the now-banned communist party, despite the fact this could not be proved in court.
Bersihar has maintained he is innocent of the charges filed against him as he has the Constitutional right to express his opinions.
“Charge me with violating the Press law, not the Criminal Code. Anyway, it was up to the editors of Koran Tempo to decide whether or not to publish my article so they could also be involved in this case.”
In court, Tikyono said the case had nothing to do with the Press Law as the alleged wrongdoing was committed by an individual and not a media company.
Bersihar’s lawyers asked the judges for more time so as they could draft a written argument. They said their client was yet to receive all of the relevant court documents, including the prosecutor’s dossier.
As the prosecution team had no objections to the request, the panel of judges agreed to adjourn the trial until Jan. 9.
The judges said they would deliver their verdict after the defendant submitted his final argument.
“No one can interfere with our decision, not even the ‘Vice President’,” judge Suwidya said, referring to comedian Jarwo Kuat who impersonates Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Republik Mimpi.
8 Komentar:
You don't use capital letter on the title?
Yes Zak, we don't. I guess in English it's not necessary to capitalize every first letter of the word -- just the first one only.
kram, u should've answered this way: "NO Zak, we don,t.."
don't worry, bro. The JP is not alone. my media applies the very same style of entitling news.. ;)
BTW.. aneh banget. ni dah hari keempat sejak lo naikkin tulisan, tapi yang kasih komen cuma satu orang.
apa karena temanya per-PKI-an, dan bukan perjenggotan ato persetubuhan y? hihi..
jadi inget adegan film sotoy-nya soeharto; "darah itu merah jendral."
ya iyalah.. emangnye darah itu kaya bensin? bisa dikasih oktan dan pewarna tambahan.. :p
Based on what, Kram? Just curious.
You got it right, Arif. But I wasn't finished. I was saying "yes Zak (you're right), we don't." hahaha.
I think it's based on some stylebook?
Hi Ikram...agak lama ga jalan-jalan kesini (biasa....teler).
Ikram ikut meliput? Bagaimana peluangnya? Apakah mungkin Bersihar bisa menang?
Peluangnya? Nggak tau Mbak. Kita lihat saja nanti Januari...
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