Dessy Sagita, Muninggar Saraswati & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Following a public outcry, judicial authorities in Tangerang on Wednesday released a mother-of-two who had been detained for complaining in an e-mail about the standard of care at an exclusive Tangerang hospital.
Attorney General's Office spokesman Jasman Panjaitan told the Jakarta Globe that Prita Mulyasari had been released but was placed under city arrest, meaning she must not leave the city until her legal situation has been resolved.
The case of Prita, who is being sued by the Omni International Hospital in Tangerang for allegedly defaming them in a complaint she e-mailed to friends, prompted a barrage of public indignation and protests after she was detained on May 13.
Officials, lawmakers, activists and other citizens called for her release. A Facebook campaign in her support had garnered more than 90,000 members as of this morning.
Jasman said that prosecutors should learn a lesson from the case. "We want all prosecutors to be more sensitive to fairness and humanity, and more responsive in following up a case," he said.
Upon leaving the prison in Tangerang, Prita knelt down and kissed the ground, images from the private Metro TV showed. "This is God's will, I'm so happy," she said, adding that she only wanted to return home to her children. "I just want to hug them and say sorry for leaving them."
Heribertus Hartojo, a lawyer for the hospital, said "the legal case will proceed regardless of her status." The hearing starts today in Tangerang.
Jasman said that Attorney General Hendarman Supanji had ordered the deputy attorney for special crime and the deputy for internal supervision to launch an examination of Prita's case to determine whether the Serang district prosecutor had properly used the Electronic Information and Transaction Law as the basis for the case. "The attorney general has requested a report by Friday at the latest," he said.
The AGO will also question the Serang prosecutors' office about its decision to take Prita into custody. "We need to re-evaluate whether or not what Prita did is classified as a cyber crime and we also need to dig deeper into the defamatory issue," Jasman said.
The actions, he said, came as a result of the massive reaction in the media to the case. Vice President Jusuf Kalla labeled Prita's detention "unfair" and said the police and prosecutors should have examined the case more thoroughly before detaining her. "She could have been given a city arrest status instead of being directly detained. How come writing an e-mail like that led her to be detained?" he said.
Sabam Leo Batubara, the deputy chairman of the Press Council, said that Prita's detention was "an authoritarian act." "How could she be detained for writing a complaint? The hospital should have considered it as input from a client," he said.
Sabam said the use of the Information and Electronic Transaction Law against Prita was a threat to freedom of expression. "The country should revise the defamation article in the law. It could be used to limit freedom of speech. She is only a citizen who expressed her criticism of a hospital's service," he said.
Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD said the defamation article in the Information and Electronic Transaction Law was constitutional, but called on the police and prosecutors to be careful in applying it, to prevent "possible innocent victims."