Prosecutors demanded a panel of judges at the Bantul District Court to sentence Ervani Emy Handayani, 29, who stands accused of making defamatory comments on Facebook, to five months in jail with 10 months of probation in a hearing at the court on Thursday.
The prosecution, led by Slamet Supriyadi, argued that Ervani was guilty of intentionally spreading electronic information of a libelous and defamatory nature.
"As sophisticated as technology is, a cell phone cannot type out those defamatory comments by itself. It is obvious that the defendant committed the act intentionally," said Slamet.
He further said that Ervani had yet to delete the comments from her Facebook account since she posted them on May 30, even after she was reported to the police and declared a suspect.
However, the prosecution said there were some aspects that could mitigate Ervani's charges. "The defendant tried to apologize to the victim, who has also forgiven her," said Slamet.
Other mitigating aspects are the fact that Ervani admitted to her actions and that this is the first time she has been implicated in a legal case. Ervani was charged under articles 45 and 29 of the Electronic Information and Transaction (ITE) Law.
"[...] sentence Ervani to five months in jail with 10 months probation and order the defendant to pay Rp 1 million (US$79.9) in fines or serve an additional three months in jail," Slamet read out the sentence demand.
The prosecution's sentence demand went against the legal views presented by expert witnesses in a previous hearing. It was said that Ervani's Facebook postings, which referred to victim Dyah Sarastury as "childish", could not be imposed with a legal sanction because the postings reflected her personal opinions.
Ervani posted her comments on Facebook in reaction to her husband, Alfa Janto, allegedly getting unfairly fired from his job. "The prosecution's demand is not justifiable," Ervani's lawyer, Samsudin Nurseha, said. The next hearing led by presiding judge Sulistio M.Dwi Putro is scheduled for Dec.29. (ebf)