Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Amid the unfortunate recent outbreak of what is now called "mob justice", groups are pushing legislators to issue a new law to define such violence and disorder contempt of court.

The coalition said that mobilizing masses to influence and intimidate the judicial process is sometimes a great influence on a case, and should thereby be considered contempt of court.

For example, a riot recently broke out following a blasphemy trial in Temanggung, Central Java. The riot resulted in damages to public facilities in the town.

Supreme Court chief justice Harifin Tumpa said he has urged the House of Representatives to prioritize the formation of a law on contempt of court because certain groups had intimidated judges and prosecutors during court hearings.

"Of course it is a form of contempt of court," he said. "Justice is achieved through the legal process; not directly obtained through such protests."

Harifin asserted that such phenomenon occurred because certain groups of people who were not satisfied with court rulings imposed their own sense of justice through violence.

He said that he was concerned that this would hamper the independence of the courts. "Fear means that judges are not independent and they might release defendants from charges."

He added that he believed such incidents could be prevented by enforcing a new law, regardless that security was actually ensured by the 2009 Law on Judicial Authority, while contempt of court was only mentioned partially in the Criminal Code. "That is why we need a law which regulates contempt of court."

Suparman Marzuki, the Judicial Commission's newly-appointed commissioner for monitoring and investigation, said that such a law stipulating acts of violence was important to maintain the independence of judges in courts.

"Because the court is a place of honor. If it loses its honor, basically the country will lose its control of authority," he said.

Firmansyah Arifin from the National Law Reformation Consortium (KRHN) once met the Judicial Commission to discuss the urgency of the need for a law on contempt of court. "The judges, as the authority of the court, are likely to be helpless when mobs start to play vigilante," he said.

According to the consortium's data, since 2005 more incidents of violence over cases being tried occurred inside the courtroom, and not outside. "There are 30 incidents across the country. And violence broke outside the courts more often than during the trials inside the court buildings," he said.

He emphasized that the violence was not merely verbal, such as making noises, harassing and berating judges. "But those include physical violence such as beatings, stabbings and murder."

He added that contempt of court not only occurred in cases that attract public attention, but also in ordinary criminal and private cases.

Five latest instances of mob justices:

• Blasphemy case trial in Temanggung, Central Java, on Feb. 8, 2011
• Ahmadiyah case trial in Cibinong, Bogor, in January 2011
• Murder case trial of a National Army member in Parepare, South Sulawesi, in January 2011
• Peterpan's vocalist Nazriel "Ariel" Irham's trial in Bandung on Dec. 23, 2010
• Rape case trial in Bangkinang, Riau province, on Nov. 17, 2010

[Source: KRHN]