Jakarta – Graft convicts Muhammad Nazaruddin and Gayus Tambunan were among thousands of inmates who received sentence cuts during this year's Idul Fitri celebration, officials said on Wednesday (06/07).
Nazaruddin, a former Democratic Party treasurer who was jailed for seven years for siphoning off state money from the graft-ridden Hambalang Sports Complex project, received a 45-day sentence cut from Sukamiskin Prison authorities in Bandung, West Java.
Disgraced former tax official Gayus, who is serving a 30-year prison term for bribery, money-laundering and passport forgery in the same jail, received a two-month sentence reduction.
"Around 71 of the 506 inmates were granted remissions," Sukamiskin Prison head Surung Pasaribu told Vivanews on Wednesday. He added that 32 of those were graft convicts.
However, Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta did not grant any sentence reductions for graft convicts, Suara.com reported.
Among the 409 inmates at the prison who were given remissions, are two serving time for terrorism, 214 for drug convictions and 193 for general crimes, prison head Asep Sutandar said.
I Wayan K Dusak, the director general for penitentiaries at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said more than 63,170 inmates were given sentence cuts during this year's Idul Fitri celebration.
Around 700 of those are set to be released as they have completed their time in prison, Dusak added.
North Sumatra province granted the highest number of remissions with 6,765, followed by West Java with 5,915.
As of June, Indonesia had 192,104 people in penitentiary and detention facilities, comprising 131,529 convicted inmates and 66,575 being detained during criminal investigations.