Ismira Lutfia – With black tape covering their mouths to symbolize freedom of expression being silenced, journalists on Monday demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court and urged it to act as a "last line of defense" to protect citizens from being prosecuted for expressing their opinions.
The rally was held as a show of solidarity over the verdict in the trial of Jupriadi "Upi" Asmaradhana, a freelance journalist in Makassar, South Sulawesi, who was acquitted on Monday of a defamation charge filed by former South Sulawesi Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto.
State-run news agency Antara reported that the Makassar District Court acquitted Upi of the charge, with the panel of judges hearing the case ruling that the dispute between Sisno and Upi had been a "misunderstanding."
"This is a victory for journalists. We finally achieved what we have been fighting for, so journalists do not need to be afraid to fight back," Upi was quoted as saying.
Upi publicly protested a call from Sisno in May 2008 urging local officials not to hesitate to file charges against journalists they felt had defamed them. A defamation charge was subsequently leveled against Upi as a result of his protest.
But the judges ruled that Upi could not be charged with defamation because his statements had not been proven to be a personal attack on the former police chief, and were instead intended to criticize institutional authority in general.
"We demand the Supreme Court stop treating defamation as a criminal case," Wahyu Dhyatmika, head of the Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, said in front of the Supreme Court building.
He said Upi's case was only one of the many defamation cases leveled against journalists for doing their job and against citizens for expressing their opinions.
"We urge the court to take a clear stance on defamation and publicly state that defamation can only be treated as a civil case," Wahyu said,
He also said defamation charges were often filed against citizens who wrote letters complaining about poor services.
He was referring to charges against kiosk owner Kho Seng Seng for writing letters to the editor over a land right dispute with developer PT Duta Pertiwi, as well as the high-profile case of Prita Mulyasari, whose trial is ongoing over an e-mail she sent to friends about poor service she reportedly received at Omni International Hospital.
Wahyu, who is a journalist at Koran Tempo daily, said he was informed by editors at his newspaper and Kompas daily that since Seng's case went public, there had been a drastic drop in the number of letters to the editors of both newspapers.