Jakarta – The Manado District Court on Wednesday refused to try two environmental activists charged with organizing demonstrations without permit and returned the case to the police, Antara reported.

Judge I Made Sukadana said that the court could not try Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive director Berry Nahdian Furqon and water and food campaign manager Erwin Usman because the police lacked of evidence.

The police arrested Berry Nahdian Furqon and Erwin Usman after attending the Indonesian Fishermen's Conference on Monday, during the opening of the World Ocean Conference in Manado. The police charged both activists of leading demonstrations without permit during the conference.

Nurcholis, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) who attended Wednesday's court session, said that the commission monitored the proceeding to see if the whole process was against the freedom of expression.