Denpasar – The Bali Regional Police (Polda) have revealed that three of the four activists arrested in Bali last week have been released. Meanwhile, one activist has been transferred to the National Police Headquarters (Mabes Polri) in Jakarta.
"One person was taken to Mabes by the Bareskrim [Criminal Investigation Directorate]. The other three were questioned as witnesses and have been sent home", said Bali Regional Police Public Relations Head Senior Commissioner Ariasandy when sought for confirmation on Monday December 22.
The arrested activists have the initials TW, MH, DR and MR. They were arrested on Friday December 19 and only TW was subsequently detained. The four activists were suspected of involvement in the demonstrations on August 30.
Meanwhile, the Bali Legal Aid Institute (LBH Bali) immediately coordinated with TW's family after they were named a suspect.
LBH Bali advocacy head Ignatius Rhadite said that the family received a document naming TW a suspect on Thursday December 18, one day before the arrest.
Rhadite feels that the arrest and process of naming TW a suspect was strange and violated the law because TW was named a suspect without first being questioned as a witness as required by law.
"This is irregular, if referring to the Constitutional Court (MK) ruling the determination of a suspect requires the questioning of the potential suspect, they must be questioning as witnesses [first], meanwhile TW was never summoned at all and was suddenly arrested and named a suspect first", Rhadite said in a written statement.
He stated that TW was charged under multiple articles. First, TW was accused of violating Article 160 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) related to incitement. TW was also charged under Article 28 Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law concerning the dissemination of fake news, then Article 76 of Law Number 35/2014 on child protection because they allegedly encouraged children to protest. Then, they were charged under Articles 212 and 214 for disobeying an appeal by the authorities.
"They have been charged with several, multiple articles. The Polda Bali are looking for a scapegoat for the August 30 actions", he explained.
He said that after TW was taken to the Criminal Investigation Directorate in Jakarta, the Bali LBH team communicated with LBH Jakarta. LBH Jakarta then went to the Criminal Investigation Directorate at the National Police Headquarters' Directorate of General Crimes.
According to Rhadite, LBH Jakarta was blocked from entering by the police on the grounds that the family had already appointed a lawyer so there was no need for LBH Jakarta to be there. However, he continued, LBH Bali had already communicated with TW's mother.
During the standoff, LBH Jakarta reportedly called the suspect's mother in front of the police, who insisted that no lawyer had been appointed.
"She was phoned in front of the police by LBH Jakarta with the phone speaker on, and the family [said it] had handed process over to LBH Jakarta, so no lawyer had been appointed. There was no such thing as claimed by the police that a lawyer had been appointed", he said.
The police, said Rhadite, still refused to allow LBH Jakarta to meet the suspect on the pretext that TW was undergoing a medical examination and therefore could not be visited. The police promised that TW would be questioning on Monday accompanied by LBH Jakarta.
"That's the chronological sequence. No warrant was issued at the time of the arrest. Determining the suspect before the investigation process is not in accordance with the law [and] there were violations of legal aid because there are lies and all sorts of things", he explained.
Rhadite said the arrests indicate the hunt for activists in Bali is not over. He suspects there is the potential for more activists to be arrested. (kdf/wis)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "3 Aktivis Ditangkap di Bali Dipulangkan, 1 Jadi Tersangka Demo Agustus".]
