Jakarta – Muhammad Fikry had just finished his prayers when several officers seized him in Tambelang subdistrict, Bekasi Regency, West Java, in July 2021. Without saying a word, police dragged Fikry and his friends, who were hanging out near his father's kiosk, into a police car. "They came without an arrest warrant," Fikry recalled on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.

Police took Fikry and friends to the yard of the Telkom office in Tambelang, right across from the Tambelang Police Station. During eight hours of interrogation, he said he was tortured. Only at the station did he learn that police accused him of being a mugger.

Fikry denied the allegation throughout the questioning. He said he was nowhere near the location when the mugging took place. "I was sleeping at the prayer room, and the surveillance camera footage looked suspicious," he said. But the violence he suffered during questioning forced him to confess.

His case went to the Cikarang District Court in West Java. The judges sentenced the 23-year-old to nine months in prison. A friend received a 10-month sentence as the alleged ringleader. But Fikry appealed to the Bandung High Court, and the judges cleared him of all charges.

Fikry was accompanied by the Anti-Torture Advocacy Team, which includes staff from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). Kontras Coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya said Fikry was a victim of wrongful arrest, and that the officers violated the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP). "Officers must be able to show an arrest warrant at the scene," he said.

– Read the complete story in Tempo English Magazine

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/2068844/potential-violations-of-the-new-criminal-procedure-cod