Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Legal experts have lambasted President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration for backing a Supreme Court's letter that places limits on criminal convicts filing case reviews, a move deemed a violation of citizens' rights to seek justice in a legal case.
The Supreme Court letter, which grants only one chance for convicts to file a case review, opposes an earlier ruling by the Constitutional Court that allowed citizens to file multiple reviews should they produce enough evidence to challenge their verdict.
The Constitutional Court scrapped Article 268, Point 3 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) following a request from former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar, who was convicted in a high-profile murder case. The article limited the number of case review petitions for convicts to one.
Muzakkir, a legal expert from the Indonesian Islamic University in Yogyakarta, lambasted Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno – who had earlier voiced support for the Supreme Court's decision – for saying that multiple chances for case reviews could bring "legal uncertainty" to law enforcement institutions in executing verdicts ruled by judges in court.
Muzakkir said on Sunday that criminal verdicts were subject to potential errors, thus case reviews were the best tool for clarification should judges make mistakes in their verdicts. "An amendment to the KUHAP grants rights for law enforcement institutions to execute court orders in criminal cases," he said.
He further said that Tedjo apparently spoke without a legal basis when claiming that convicts on death row made use of their case review rights to postpone the execution of their death sentences."Unlike other verdicts, the execution of death penalties cannot be clarified. What else is there to clarify after the execution is conducted? Thus, the execution of convicts on death row should wait until case reviews have confirmed their guilt or innocence," Muzakkir said.
On Saturday, Tedjo said death penalty convicts used their multiple case review rights as a "legal excuse" to avoid execution.
"When they hear they are soon to be executed, they suddenly file case review proposals [to the Supreme Court] to delay matters. When will the execution take place if such a condition recurs? There should be legal certainty [for law enforcement institutions] to execute death penalty convicts," Tedjo said.
Muzakkir said there was no reason for law enforcement institutions such as the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to postpone court orders for death penalty.
"If a death penalty convict files another case review, then the AGO should quickly study his or her proposal. If the proposal is supported by enough evidence, process the case review, but if not then his or execution must proceed. This is about how fast the AGO can move in such a scenario," Muzakkir said.
A legal expert from Gadjah Mada University, Zainal Arifin, concurred with Muzakkir, saying that to avoid death penalty convicts using case review chances to delay execution, the government must establish a new regulation to explain under what conditions convicts could challenge their verdicts for a second or third time. "The specific regulation then will become a guide for executions," Zainal said on Sunday.
Last week, Attorney General HM Prasetyo also supported the Supreme Court's decision to limit the number of case reviews for convicts. "It is already a good step, but it is not enough," he said.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/05/govt-under-fire-limiting-case-reviews.html