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Police cater to controversial judge Sarpin by charging his critics

Jakarta Globe - July 12, 2015

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Jakarta – The Indonesian police have leveled defamation charges against two members of the Judicial Commission – the government's court watchdog – at the behest of a controversial judge who notoriously ordered that corruption charges be dropped against a top general earlier this year.

Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan, a spokesman for the National Police, confirmed to reporters on Saturday that the police's detectives division had on Friday named Judicial Commission chairman Suparman Marzuki and commissioner Taufiqurahman Sauri as suspects for allegedly defaming Sarpin Rizaldi, a judge at the South Jakarta District Court.

"We're going to call them in for questioning next week. This case is based on a complaint; a complaint was filed, hence we are handling it and have named the two individuals as suspects," Anton said.

Sarpin filed the complaint on March 30, but the police conveniently only acted on it after the Judicial Commission earlier this week submitted a recommendation to the Supreme Court that the judge be suspended for at least six months for ethical misconduct in handing down a contentious ruling in a pretrial motion on Feb. 16.

That motion was brought by Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, at the time the sole candidate for police chief, after he was charged in January with bribery and money laundering by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), in connection with undeclared millions of dollars in his personal bank accounts.

Sarpin ruled that the KPK's basis for charging Budi was invalid, effectively quashing the case before he had even been indicted – a move that legal scholars, including from the Judicial Commission, unanimously agreed went against the substance of the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) and the scope of a pretrial hearing.

"This [ruling] is of great concern and poses a legal quandary," Suparman said a day after the ruling. "It goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court in trying to reform the judiciary."

In the wake of the outcry over his ruling, Sarpin went on the offensive, threatening litigation and criminal charges against anyone criticizing his ruling. That elicited even more ridicule from the Judicial Commission, which had begun an inquiry into the controversy.

"Have you ever heard of a judge getting offended just because of something someone says about their ruling? He's the only one. And why is he offended? It's his own fault, after all," Taufiqurahman said on March 27. "He's too conceited, he thinks the ruling is all about him," he added.

It was those remarks that prompted Sarpin to file his complaint with police three days later. Even then, however, the judge still managed to court controversy, accepting for free the services of high-powered lawyer Hotma Sitompoel in filing the defamation complaint – a move that saw the Judicial Commission launch a separate ethics inquiry into whether Sarpin had received gratuities.

Taufiqurahman, speaking to Tempo on Friday, said he was surprised that the police had chosen to act on Sarpin's report and name him and Suparman as suspects.

"What I said at the time, I said in my capacity as a member of the Judicial Commission, not as a private individual," he said. "There's no legal standing [for the complaint]. If that was the case, then every judge investigated by the Judicial Commission could hit back."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/police-cater-controversial-judge-sarpin-charging-critics/.