Responding to the verdict of the South Jakarta District Court judge on the pre-trial motion by a number of activists against the legal actions of the Metro Jaya Jakarta Regional Police (Polda), Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid, said:
"The sole pre-trial judge at the South Jakarta District Court was unfair in considering the evidence presented by the suspects. The judge also paid little attention to the growing sense of injustice in society. This decision could normalise the suppression of freedom of expression. The judge is the final supervisor of any alleged legal process that violates the principle of a fair trial.
The Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD) has uncovered numerous procedural violations, from the determination of the suspects without prior examination as potential suspects as stipulated by Constitutional Court Ruling Number 21/PUU-XII/2014, through to confiscations without court order.
These facts should have been sufficient grounds for the judge to correct the police's actions. However, the judge instead reinforced the disregard for the principle of due process of law.
This rejection demonstrates state repression of activists who voice the anxieties of the ordinary people. Yet this is a human right guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
If practices of this kind continue, Indonesia will increasingly deviate from the principles of a state based on the rule of law that upholds human rights. The state should protect citizens who express criticisms, not make them enemies who must be imprisoned.
The police must immediately stop the legal proceedings against all of the activists arrested simply for speaking out peacefully during the demonstrations last August".
Background
The panel of judges at the South Jakarta District Court in today's pre-trial hearing (27/10) rejected the request of four activists who were arrested following the mass protests at the end of August 2025.
The activists are Delpedro Marhaen and Muzaffar Salim (two human rights activists from the Lokataru Foundation), Syahdan Husein (a Gejayan Calling activist) and Khariq Anhar (an activist from the Student Challenge Alliance from Riau).
The judge also rejected the pre-trial motion regarding the legality of the confiscation of activists' belongings by police, according to Amnesty International Indonesia's monitoring at the South Jakarta District Court.
The four activists filed a pre-trial motion as applicants to test the validity of the arrest, confiscations, detention and their determination of suspects by the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, as the respondent, in a case of alleged incitement related to the demonstration that ended in riots at the end of August.
The TAUD, as the activists' legal representative, revealed several procedural violations by the police in arresting and detaining the activists. This included the determination of suspects by the police that was invalid because the four activists were never questioned as "potential suspects" as is required for determining suspects according Constitutional Court Decision Number 21/PUU-XII/2014.
Furthermore, the police's illegal confiscation of the activists' belongings was conducted without a ruling by the chief justice of the local district court. TAUD also found that the activists' arrests were illegal because they had not previously been summoned or questioned by the police.
According to Amnesty's monitoring, the pre-trial hearings for the four activists were held separately. In the morning, the judge delivered a ruling on Khariq Anhar's petition, followed by a decision in the afternoon on the petitions of Delpedro Marhaen, Muzaffar Salim and Syahdan Husein.
The atmosphere at Anhar's pre-trial hearing this morning became chaotic when court security officers attempted to prevent visitors outside the courtroom from displaying posters supporting the activists. A uniformed police officer was also seen grabbing a poster and throwing it while shouting "Take it out, take it out!". This prompted protests from the audience.
After the judge decided to reject their request, the four activists now remain suspects in the alleged incitement case related to the demonstration and must undergo further legal proceedings.
Amnesty International Indonesia notes that the four activists who filed the pre-trial motion were among 12 activists detained as suspects in an incitement case following the demonstration at the end of last August.
As suspects, the activists were charged under Article 160 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) and/or Article 45A paragraph (3) in conjunction with Article 28 paragraph (3) of Law Number 1/2024 on Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE Law) and/or Article 76H in conjunction with Article 15 in conjunction with Article 87 of Law Number 35/2014 on child protection.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Vonis praperadilan Delpedro dkk, normalisasi pembungkaman aktivis".]
