Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court turned down Wednesday a petition for it to scrap an article in the Criminal Code allowing law enforcers to detain suspects over fears they could flee justice or destroy evidence.

The plea was submitted by suspended East Kalimantan governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah who is in custody for facing a corruption trial at the Corruption Court.

The Constitutional Court ruled that detention under legal grounds was necessary to protect the public interest, although the judges said this could seen as "painful" from a human rights perspective.

"Article 21 of the Criminal Code is not legally excessive and therefore it is not against the Constitution. The article is still within the realms of rationality," Constitutional Court chief Jimly Ashhiddiqie said while reading out the verdict.

Suwarna had earlier filed a legal protest against his detention with the Central Jakarta District Court, which turned it down.

In his petition to the Constitutional Court, Suwarna said the code was stopping him from doing his job and infringing on his rights because the decision to place him in detention was the prosecutors' prerogative.

His lawyers argued detaining suspects because of "subjective" considerations was against the Constitution that guaranteed people the right to fair treatment before the law.

The Constitutional Court said while the article could be abused, suspects could challenge prosecutors' decisions by filing a pre-trial lawsuit if they thought their detention was illegal.

Suwarna's lawyer, Ketut Made Widjaja, said he was disappointed with the verdict and insisted the article could lead to discriminatory treatment. "I just hope the revision of the code will be made soon," he said.

Andi Hamzah, a legal expert assigned to draft the revisions to the code, said during the trial that the new amendments would tighten the rules on custody. Andi said a change in policy was needed to minimize cases of arbitrary arrest.

The team is considering including a passage that would require the approval of three judges before prosecutors could hold suspects in custody pending their trial.

Others changes would mean suspects could only be detained if they faced a minimum sentence of six years' jail, not the five years in the existing law.