Heru Andriyanto – The Banten High Court has ordered the Tangerang District Court to retry the defamation case against Prita Mulyasari, a top provincial judge said on Thursday.

The ruling came as a surprise to the 32-year-old mother of two, who has been struggling to forget the three weeks she spent in detention in the wake of the case and return to her normal life.

A panel of judges at the high court concluded that the lower court's decision to throw out the case against Prita on charges of defaming Omni International Hospital was unlawful, Banten High Court chairman Sumarno was quoted by local media reports as saying.

"Accordingly, the high court has ordered a retrial by the district court," he said. The district court ruled last month that the defamation charge against Prita could not be accepted because it was based on the Electronic Transaction and Information Law, which it said did not come into effect until April 2010. The court then dismissed Prita's case.

But according to Sumarno, the law had come into force the day it was adopted in April last year, meaning the district judges had misinterpreted the law.

He said the high court made its ruling on Monday and that a copy of the decision would be forwarded to the district court.

"I'm tired of all this," Prita told the Jakarta Globe. "I have begun to forget the case and return to my work, my routines. But the case must now restart all over again."

Prita said that as a law-abiding citizen she would follow the legal proceedings and appear in court when summoned.

"But to be honest, I am ignorant of legal matters, but it makes me wonder how those judges could make different decisions on the same case," she said, adding that a new trial would again force her to take time off from work to attend the hearings.

Slamet Yuwono, a lawyer for Prita, said that the Electronic Transaction and Information Law was highly contentious.

He said one article of the law stated it was effective from the day of its adoption, while another article required supporting government regulation be passed within two years to provide definitions for some key words like "defamation."

"If the high court wants us to go back to the courtroom, that's fine. The law is very contentious, so we need to reach a common interpretation of this," he said.

"We will invite legal and telecommunication experts to defend our argument. I just hope that the high court judges were not compelled by anything other than legal considerations," Slamet said without elaborating.

Prita was sued for an e-mail message she sent to friends criticizing Omni Hospital's service and was placed in detention before her hearing began.

In a separate civil case, the court ordered Prita to pay Rp 312 million ($31 million) in damages to the hospital. She is appealing that decision and is filing a countersuit, her lawyer said.