As previously reported in our earlier appeal: INDONESIA: Jakarta police apply beatings and electric shocks to obtain confessions from teenagers and a young adult two street singers in Cipulir named Andro and Nurdin as well as other four minor street singers – AP, BF, FP, and F – were charged with murder under Article 338 of the Penal Code. Andro and Nurdin were later convicted by South Jakarta District Court and were sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment, whereas the four minor street singers were sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment. The district court judges named them guilty, despite indications that they were innocent. Officers of Jakarta Metropolitan Police were reported to have subjected the six street singers to beatings and electrocution during the interrogations in order to obtain confessions. One of the real perpetrators of the murder charge against them has also come out and confessed.
However, the LBH Jakarta has recently reported that the South Jakarta District Court’s judgment on Andro and Nurdin was overturned on 5 March 2014 by a panel of judges of Jakarta High Court. The panel of judges – Justices Gatot Suparmono, Kresna Monen, and Panusunan Harahap – concluded that there was not enough evidence to find Andro and Nurdin guilty for the crime of which they were accused. The information available, instead, indicated that the murder was perpetrated by other persons.
The AHRC welcomes the judgment of Jakarta High Court on this case and believes that it will significantly support Andro and Nurdin’s – as well as their four street singer fellows – case against the police officers who tortured and falsely charged them.
The full judgment of the High Court is yet to be available to the public. There is no information on whether the prosecutor will file for an appeal to the Supreme Court.