Heru Andriyanto and Ismira Lutfia
JAKARTA: Three men were acquitted on Wednesday of the murder of a TV journalist in the Indonesian island province of Maluku, prompting protests from media observers.
The Tual District Court ruled that Hasan Tamange, Ibrahim Raharusun and Sahar Renuat were not guilty of the murder of Sun TV's Ridwan Salamun, who was killed last August while covering a clash between residents of Fiditan village in Tual district.
Noor Rachmad, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said prosecutors planned to lodge an appeal of the verdict with the Supreme Court within 14 days.
"We first need to examine the considerations made by the judges in delivering their not-guilty verdict and after that we can present our arguments to counter their considerations," he said.
He did not say whether prosecutors would submit documents and evidence gathered by the Indonesian Press Council and the Maluku Media Center in their appeal.
Bekti Nugroho, a member of the Press Council, said the acquittal was disappointing and deeply regrettable.
"If the defendants are acquitted, then who killed Ridwan?" he asked.
"His death was obviously a murder. He didn't die because of an accident or natural causes."
Bekti added that the council would form a team to conduct its own probe into Ridwan's death.
Insany Syahbarwati, from the Maluku Media Center, also denounced the verdict, saying it had devastated the press community and Ridwan's family's sense of justice.
"This is a controversial verdict and a bad precedent for legal conduct in Maluku," she said.
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said in a statement that the acquittal showed the safety of journalists in the country was under threat.
AJI chairman Nezar Patria said the acquittal proved that impunity applied for those who obstructed journalists in the course of their work.
"We have seen that perpetrators of violence against journalists have been freed from all responsibility for their actions," he said.
Prosecutors in Ridwan's case previously came under fire from the media community for only seeking eight-month sentences for the three defendants, arguing that they killed him in apparent self-defence.
Police claimed the three had killed Ridwan in self-defence because he had been carrying a machete.
However, this allegation was denied by the Press Council, saying Ridwan was simply doing his job and was unarmed. - Jakarta Globe/Pacific Media Watch
Ismira Lutfia
