Ulma Haryanto – The Supreme Court has rejected the Bogor City administration's request to uphold the revocation of the Indonesian Christian Church's (GKI Yasmin) building permit in Bogor.

"A clerk from the Supreme Court invited representatives from the church and the city administration regarding the result," Bona Sigalingging, spokesman for GKI Yasmin, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

"They told us that the city's request [regarding the revocation of our building permit] was rejected and a hard copy of the ruling would be distributed within the next week."

The information about the case can be viewed on the Supreme Court's Web site. According to the Web site, the decision was issued on Dec. 9 by a panel composed of judges Valerine J.L. Kriekhoff, Marina Sidabutar and Imam Soebechi.

GKI Yasmin has been holding its services on the sidewalk in front of its half-constructed church. The site was sealed for much of 2010 after years of wrangling with the Bogor administration, which revoked its building permit in March 2010.

In June 2009, the church won a court appeal filed against the revocation, with the State Administrative Court ordering Bogor municipal authorities to put an end to the closure of the church site.

But the city filed a case review and has refused to comply with the court order pending a new verdict. Bogor authorities have said that sealing the church was at the request of residents who opposed the church's presence in their community.

GKI Yasmin had to celebrate Christmas last month surrounded by 150 armed police officers and about 100 protesters from surrounding areas who disproved of the congregation's presence.

The hard-line organization Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) and other Muslim groups have alleged that some of the signatures needed from neighboring residents to gain approval for the construction of the church building were falsified.