Jakarta – Legal activists suggested Thursday that court verdicts be made accessible to the public in a bid to curb the "court mafia" they say exists in the country's judicial system.

"It should be included in the bill on the freedom to access public information. Verdicts should be available for the public, though some restrictions can be put in place. There's no need to have specific reasons if we want to get a copy. Those hampering the practice should be sanctioned," the deputy director of the Environmental Law Development Institution, Josi Khatarina, was quoted as saying by detik.com news portal.

Emerson Yunto of the Indonesian Corruption Watch said courts remained closed and non-transparent to the public, and that allowing copies of verdicts to be accessed by the public could open the system.