Jakarta – Lokataru Foundation Director Delpedro Marhaen has questioned the legal proceedings against the police officers who killed an online motorbike taxi driver (ojek) named Affan Kurniawan, who was run over by a police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) tactical vehicle during a demonstration in Jakarta last August.
Marhaen asserted that there should be no discriminatory treatment in the law enforcement process. He touched on the police officers who killed Kurniawan who have yet to be criminally prosecuted, while hundreds of young people linked to the riots last August are currently undergoing trial.
"Moreover, we have just heard the latest information from the Mabes Polri [National Police Headquarters] that the perpetrator of the murder of Affan Kurniawan, the one who ran him over, has not been tried yet. Meanwhile almost all of the demonstrators across Indonesia have already been tried, and today we were greeted by a demand for two years [in prison]", said Marhaen at the Central Jakarta District Court on Friday February 27.
Kurniawan died after being run over by a tactical vehicle belonging to a Brimob unit that was passing through the Bendungan Hilir area in Central Jakarta on August 28, 2025. At the time of the incident, Chief Brigadier Rohmat was driving the vehicle. Meanwhile Commissioner Kosmas Kaju Gae sat beside Rohmat.
A National Police (Polri) Code of Ethics Committee (KKEP) hearing dismissed Gae from the police force and gave Rohmat a seven year demotion.
In addition to this, the KKEP also tried five other police officers who were sitting in the back seat of the tactical vehicle. The five police officers were declared to have violated Article 5 paragraph (1) letter c of Police Regulation Number 7/2022 on the National Police Professional Code of Ethics and Ethics Commission.
Prosecutor's demands
Meanwhile, in Marhaen's view the prosecutor's demand that they be sentenced to two years in prison does not reflect the legal facts revealed in the trial. He said that child witnesses and witnesses from the demonstrators said that they did not feel incited by the social media content created by him and his colleagues.
Moreover, explained Marhaen, the experts presented to the court stated that the riots that occurred in August last year could not be blamed on just one factor.
"Now, [based] on this conclusion we view the demands made by the Kejaksaan [Prosecutor's Office] do not reflect the trial process and obscure the main facts of the trial and obscure the main objective of uncovering [the reasons behind] the riots last August", he said.
Even though he is disappointed, Marhaen emphasised that the demand for a two year prison sentence does not make him afraid or fearful.
"Of course the demand for two years does not make us afraid and does not make us fearful. This will actually become a test for the judges later, a test for the public, and also a test for our law on how to be able to correct errors in thinking from the Kejaksaan. That's the role of the judge that we are waiting for", he asserted.
Earlier, the prosecutor demanded that the panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court sentence Marhaen to two years in prison.
The prosecution filed similar charges against three other defendants, namely Lokataru Foundation staff and Student Political Block Instagram account manager Muzaffar Salim, the administrator of @gejayanmemanggil (Gejayan Calling) Syahdan Husein and Riau University student and Student Challenge Alliance administrator Khariq Anhar.
According to the prosecutor, the defendants have been proven to have committed incitement electronically related to the demonstrations on August 25-30, 2025, which ended in chaos and resulted in public facilities being damaged and police officers being injured as per the third indictment of Article 246 of Law Number 1/2023 on the Criminal Code (KUHP) in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of the KUHP.
"(Demanding the panel of judges) sentence Defendant I Delpedro Marhaen, Defendant II Muzaffar Salim, Defendant III Syahdan Husein, and Defendant IV Khariq Anhar with a prison sentence of two years reduced by the time the defendant served in custody", said the prosecutor when reading out the criminal complaint at the Central Jakarta District Court on Friday.
The defendants will submit a defence speech or pleidoi at the next court hearing which is scheduled to take place on Monday March 2. (ryn/dal)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Delpedro Pertanyakan Kasus Affan Kurniawan Belum Diadili".]
