Febryan Kevin Candra Kurniawan, Faieq Hidayat, Jakarta – Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Deputy Coordinator Andrie Yunus has refused to attend the trial of four soldiers at the Jakarta II-09 Military Court who are accused of dousing him with acid on March 13.
A representative of the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), Airlangga Julio, expressed concern that if Yunus were to appear in court he would in fact face intimidation.
"And if Andrie were to appear he might perhaps even face intimidation. Because what we can see from yesterday is that various methods are being used to delegitimise Andri's efforts in criticising the TNI [Indonesian Military] as an institution", Julio explained at the Jakarta II-08 Military Court II-08 on Monday May 11.
Julio believes the trial could be detrimental to the victim, Yunus.
"Then we can all see in the hearings, the judge seems to be instead siding with the perpetrators. For example, he has directed that this crime should have been carried out in a better manner", Julio added.
Julio explained that they have not yet received a written summons for Yunus to appear at the trial.
"The military prosecutor only sent a letter requesting additional witnesses to the LPSK [Witness and Victim Protection Agency]. Yet, in the context of criminal procedural law, the summons should be sent physically", he said.
In addition to this, he also requested that the indictments in the acid attack case be dropped and that the 16 alleged perpetrators involved in the attack, which were previously identified by TAUD, be tried in a civilian court.
"We along with Andrie Yunus, firmly reject the military trial process at the Jakarta II-08 Military Court and demand that the indictments be withdrawn and the trial halted", he said.
Earlier, four TNI personnel were charged with throwing acid at the Kontras activist in Salemba, Central Jakarta.
The four defendants are Second Sergeant Edi Sudarko, First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi, Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetya and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka.
The motive cited by the military prosecutor was that they were offended by Yunus for interrupting a closed meeting on revisions to the TNI Law at the Fairmont Hotel in Jakarta on March 16, 2025.
"The defendants believed that Andrie Yunus insulted the TNI as an institution and even trampled on it" said military prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Iswadi from the Legal Corps during a hearing at the military court on Wednesday.
The four defendants are charged with multiple articles, namely Article 469 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code (KUHP) as the primary charge, Article 468 paragraph (1) as a subsidiary charge, and Article 467 paragraphs (1) and (2) as additional subsidiary charges, in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1/2023.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Andrie Yunus Tolak Hadir di Sidang Penyiraman Air Keras, Khawatir Diintimidasi".]
