An Indonesian man has been sentenced to five years and six months in prison after he was found guilty of sexually exploiting underage university students for his bondage fetish.
Gilang Aprilian Nugraha Pratama, a 22-year-old former student at Surabaya's Airlangga University (Unair), was found guilty of sexual assault, sexual exploitation of children, and violation of the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE) by the Surabaya District Court yesterday. His eventual sentence was more lenient than the eight years prosecutors demanded, though Gilang has been ordered to pay a fine of IDR50 million (US$3,496) in lieu of an additional three months in prison.
"We are being lenient with the sentence because the defendant's actions were driven by his abnormal sexual urges," presiding judge Khusaini said at the sentencing hearing yesterday.
Both Gilang and prosecutors in the case may file appeals against the sentence.
Gilang was outed by several of his victims – also college students – on Twitter in July 2020. They alleged that Gilang contacted them via Instagram and pestered them into being wrapped in jarik (Javanese traditional cloth) from head to toe under the pretense of academic research.
One of the victims said he and his friend participated in Gilang's game in 2020 when the pandemic prevented the pair from meeting him in person. Gilang nonetheless virtually sent instructions to the two victims to take turns mummifying each other while taking photos and videos.
Another victim said Gilang drugged him before covering him in a blanket and molesting him when they were college freshmen.
Gilang was expelled by Unair as soon as his allegations went viral. When he was arrested and interrogated by the police, he confessed to having satisfied his mummification fetish on 25 people since 2015.