Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
A number of supporters of Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti packed the East Jakarta District Court’s courtyard area, Monday (3/4).
Dozens of people are expected to be present to watch the proceedings in the trial for the defamation case against Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
“About 50 people from various organizations will attend this morning,” one of Haris-Fatia’s support coordinators told CNNIndonesia.com.
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Various red posters with protest calls were also brought to enliven the action.
Writings such as, “We have the right to be critical”, “Criticism is a correction, how come it is finished”, “Luhut’s Footsteps in the Mining Business in Papua,” to “We are with Fatia Haris” were raised by several people in front of the East Jakarta District Court.
Several presentations and speeches will also be delivered by the action coordinator ahead of the trial which will begin at around 09.00 WIB.
Haris and Fatia’s case files have the numbers: 202/Pid.Sus/2023/PN Jkt.Tim and 203/Pid.Sus/2023/PN Jkt.Tim. Public prosecutor on behalf of Yanuar Adi Nugroho.
Haris and Fatia were charged with violating Article 27 paragraph (3) in conjunction with Article 45 paragraph (3) of Law (UU) Number 19 of 2016 concerning amendments to Law 11/2008 concerning ITE or Article 14 paragraph (2) a subsidiary of Article 15 UU 1/ 1946 concerning Criminal Law Regulations or Article 310 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code.
This legal process began with a report by Luhut who felt that Haris and Fatia had tarnished his good name regarding a podcast entitled ‘There is Lord Luhut behind the Intan Jaya Economic-Ops Military Relations!! General BIN is also there!!’.
The police report was filed in September 2021, registered with the number: LP/B/4702/IX/2021/SPKT/POLDA METRO JAYA. The police then named Haris and Fatia as suspects.
Meanwhile, the Civil Society Coalition refuses to silence the government, one of which is through the criminalization of activists Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti regarding defamation of Luhut’s reputation.
“In the public sphere, people who express their opinions are actually being repressed by the security forces. On the other hand, freedom in our digital sphere is also increasingly being taken away by the existence of legal products such as the ITE Law,” said the official statement from the civil society coalition, Sunday (2/4) .
The coalition stated that all the threats that arose because of the state’s arbitrariness did not stop the people’s steps to continue to demand the fulfillment of justice and human rights in Indonesia.
“We call for the greatest solidarity to all citizens who to this day are victims of criminalization and also threats due to their activities to defend the environment, academic freedom, press freedom and injustice,” he said.
Fatia is the Coordinator of KontraS and Haris is the founder of Lokataru. Now the status of the two is close to the trial court process.
(frs/ugo)
(Gambas:Video CNN)