Camelia Pasandaran & Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – Former police chief of detectives and whistle-blower Susno Duadji was on Thursday refused a stay of prosecution by the Constitutional Court.
Susno, who faces bribery charges, filed the motion after being placed in the witness protection program last month.
He claimed that the 2006 Witness Protection Law, which guarantees immunity from prosecution for witnesses, contained a conflicting article stipulating that such witnesses could face prosecution if they were also suspects in a case.
However, the court ruled that an additional request for the stay of prosecution was not necessary pending a judicial review. "The judges consider that the request for the stay of prosecution is not pertinent to the main substance of the hearing," Chief Justice Mahfud MD said on Thursday.
Susno is known for exposing in March so-called case brokers active within the police force, the prosecutors' offices and the judiciary. The brokers were allegedly instrumental in carrying out large-scale institutionalized graft on behalf of their corporate and private clients, who were facing investigations.
His allegations raised a massive public outcry against law enforcement agencies. As a result, several police officers and alleged case brokers have been charged with graft.
However, Susno was later charged with taking a Rp 500 million ($56,000) bribe, allegedly in exchange for expediting a criminal investigation on behalf of a case broker. Susno has denied the allegations.
"I don't want other whistle-blowers to go through the same experience," Susno told the court on Thursday.
"If a serving officer can be treated this way, imagine the obstacles facing lower-ranking officers or ordinary citizens who are trying to report on graft in their offices.
"Technically I'm supposed to be under the care of the LPSK (Witness and Victim Protection Agency]) but in reality I'm in police custody."
Legal expert Saldi Isra, from Andalas University in West Sumatra, testified at the Constitutional Court on Thursday that the lack of clarity in the witness protection law would discourage people from reporting on graft.
"They'll be reluctant to act because there's this threat hanging over them that they could be charged too," he said. "For a crime as serious as corruption, a whistle-blower already faces threats both from inside and outside their institution. And the law does nothing to alleviate this."
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a director general at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, testified on behalf of the government that Susno's motion had no legal basis.
"His arrest was well within the law, and highlights the principle of equality before the law," she told the court.
"The article in the witness protection law that stipulates witnesses who are suspects may be charged is not unconstitutional, and therefore the government asks that this judicial review be rejected," Harkristuti added.
Meanwhile, a group of prominent public figures handed over a petition to the Attorney General's Office on Thursday, requesting Susno's release on humanitarian grounds so he could observe the month of Ramadan with his family.
"We believe Susno, as a high-ranking police officer, is a law-abiding citizen," said petitioner Syafii Maarif, a former chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second-biggest Islamic organization.