Fikri Zaki Muhammadi, Jakarta – The West Jakarta District Court handed Hercules Rozario Marshal a mere four-month prison term on Tuesday for multiple charges as no incriminating witnesses, other than police witnesses, showed up during his trial.
On March 9, Hercules and 49 of his associates got into a clash with police officers in a commercial district in West Jakarta after the gang tried to provoke a fight with the police personnel who had been dispatched to guard the area.
The police were deployed in the area following reports that Hercules and his men were actively engaged in extortion.
The verdict was lighter than the six-month prison term sought by prosecutors who had failed to build a case of instigation of crime, vandalism, obstruction of justice and extortion, all of which carry a maximum prison term of 18 years in total.
The prosecutors could only charge Hercules with obstruction of justice, a violation of the Criminal Code that carries seven years, imprisonment.
"The court rules beyond doubt that defendant Hercules Rozario Marshal committed violence, violating Article 214 of the Criminal Code and he is therefore sentenced to four months' imprisonment," said presiding judge Kemal Tampubolon as he read the verdict.
"The sentence is less time served," the judge added. Hercules had been behind bars since March pending trial and therefore was free to walk out of the Jakarta Police detention center on Monday.
Police investigators criticized the prosecution, questioning why the prosecution did not include the fact that the police had also seized an illegally owned gun from Hercules in the indictment, when illegal possession of a firearm carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison as stipulated in the 1951 Emergency Law.
Prosecutors were unable to explain this lapse while Hercules' lawyers said that the case was political. Hercules' lawyer Agung Sri Purnomo said that his team would consider filing an appeal to a higher court. "Our client is innocent and he should have been acquitted."
In the verdict, the judges stated that Hercules' cooperation and politeness during the proceedings and the fact that he was his family's only bread winner were considerations in mitigating his sentence. In his defense statement last week, Hercules told the court that he was a changed man.
The Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party's chief patron, Prabowo Subianto, also defended Hercules in this case. The former commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) said that Hercules had pledged to change his bad behavior. Prabowo had denied that his ties with Hercules would be utilized to help the latter in his legal proceedings.
Hercules, who moved from Timor Leste to Jakarta in the 1980s, made Prabowo the head of the advisory board of the New Indonesian People's Movement (GRIB), which he established in May of last year.
Last August, Hercules and his men were involved in a clash with the gang of convicted murderer and notorious gang leader John Kei, over the protection of a disputed plot of land in Taman Palem, West Jakarta.
One of Hercules' men was shot dead by police officers during a raid following the altercation. None of Hercules' men were charged with any offences.