Jakarta – Lokataru Foundation Director Delpedro Marhaen is asking the state to restore the honour and dignity of himself and his three colleagues after a panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court handed down a verdict of not guilty.
When giving a post-trial statement after the judges read out the verdict, Marhaen specifically mentioned the name of the Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections (Menko Kumham Imipas), Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who since the case of alleged incitement was launched, has asked him to be cooperative.
"Today I would like to convey to the Menko Kumham Imipas of the RI [Republic of Indonesia], Yusril Ihza Mahendra, that when I was first arrested, I was challenged to be a gentleman (English) in facing justice, and now we have faced justice and we have been declared innocent and free!", Marhaen exclaimed in the Kusuma Atmadja 4 courtroom at the Central Jakarta District Court Friday afternoon March 6.
"On the same occasion we also ask Yusril Ihza Mahendra for the state to restore, repair our honour and dignity, replace all the losses we have experienced", he added.
Marhaen revealed that for approximately six months he had not been able to live his life freely because he was detained by the state apparatus.
"We were forced to not work, we were forced to not be able to go back to college, we were forced to have to pay fees for the needs of the trial and so on", he said.
"Imagine, a person who was found not guilty later turns out to have spent six months in prison. Imagine how the law works, imagine how injustice works, what about other political prisoners?", he continued.
He also asked the Prosecutor's Office not to pursue an appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court..
"We hope that there will be no more legal action, no more legal resistance from the prosecutor's office. We hope that this will be the final decision and can be accepted as a decision that saves democracy and freedom of opinion", he said.
Marhaen along with Lokataru Foundation staff member Muzaffar Salim, the administrator of the account @gejayanmemanggil (Gejayan Calling) Syahdan Husein, and Riau University student and Student Challenge Alliance account administrator Khariq Anhar were acquitted because they were not proven to have spread fake news or committed incitement related to the August 2025 protests which ended in chaos.
The judges stated that Marhaen and his colleagues were also not proven to have invited or used children for military and/or other armed purposes as charged under Article 76H in conjunction with Article 15 in conjunction with Article 87 of Law Number 35/2014 on Child Protection in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 of the 1st Criminal Code (KUHP).
"Therefore, acquitting the defendants from all the public prosecutor's charges", said the head of the panel of judges, Harika Nova Yeri, when reading out the verdict at the Central Jakarta District Court on Friday.
"Restoring the rights of the defendants in terms of their capacity, position, honour and dignity", continued the judge. (ryn/gil)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Divonis Bebas, Delpedro Minta Negara Pulihkan Harkat & Martabat".]
