Ulma Haryanto – In the wake of a court's decision that Irzen Octa died of natural causes, the former lawmaker's widow said on Friday that she would not give up the fight until justice is served.

"I was shocked," Essi Ronaldi said of the judges' ruling. "How could the judges make that kind of decision?"

The South Jakarta District Court ruled on Thursday that Irzen, who died last year after being interrogated by debt collectors in the office of Citibank Indonesia, passed away because of a ruptured blood vessel.

The three third-party debt collectors hired by Citibank Indonesia who stood trial for death were only convicted of unpleasant conduct. "Somebody has clearly died from what they did, but the court only convicted them of unpleasant conduct?" Essi said.

The court, which was presided by Judge Maman M. Ambari, said the debt collectors did not kidnap Irzen or kill him, as claimed by the prosecution. In their ruling, the judges said the trio merely prevented Irzen from leaving by confiscating his identity card. They were each sentenced to one year in prison. The court also acquitted the two supervisors of the convicted debt collectors.

Essi stopped going to the hearings after claiming to be "overwhelmed" by how the judges had taken Citibank's side and because of the "unwillingness" of prosecutors to properly try the case.

"My heart just could not take it. I was disappointed from the beginning, so I decided not to come to the hearings," she said. "I am, of course, still willing to find out the truth. My daughter and I cannot accept this. It's not revenge, but we have to prove who is wrong here," Slamet Yuwono, the family's lawyer, also expressed his disappointment in the ruling but was not surprised.

"At the beginning, when the police were still examining the case, we were suspicious as to why the investigators had chosen the law on unpleasant conduct," Slamet said.

He also said that the family's suspicions grew when the judges discredited the second autopsy result. "Everybody saw the bruises and other wounds [when the body was exhumed for a second autopsy]," he continued. "Irzen died inside Citibank's premises. Someone still has to be responsible for this."