Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh Military Court on Friday sentenced Chief Pvt. Heri Safitri of the Yonif 111/Raider Paya Bakong, North Aceh, to three years in prison for lending his rifle to civilians who used it to shoot up a political party office on Feb. 17, 2014.

Heri, who was also found guilty of having consumed shau-shabu or methamphetamine, was also dishonorably discharged.

The sentence exactly matched what was demanded by prosecutors. During the tribunal, military prosecutor Maj. Uje Koswara said Heri had lent his SS2 V1 rifle out to Mario and Umar Adam alias Membe, whom he knew intended to shoot up a NasDem Party campaign office ahead of the 2014 legislative election.

Presiding judge Lt. Col. Budi Purnomo MH said Heri could no longer be a soldier in the Indonesian Military (TNI) because what he did had besmirched the image of the TNI.

Lending out his rifle, the judge said, could endanger other people's lives. Moreover, the shooting had disturbed the peace in Aceh, all the more so that it occurred during the campaign period.

"We rejected the defendant's appeal to not be discharged from the TNI because we consider him no longer worthy of being a soldier," Budi said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/05/17/soldier-discharged-jailed-lending-out-rifle.html