ndra Budiari, Jakarta – The Jakarta High Court's decision to overturn the conviction of Indonesian Ferdinant Tjiong and Canadian Neil Bantleman in the child abuse case at the Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) has given a glimmer of hope to the five cleaners who were sentenced in a similar case.
Patra M. Zen, the lawyer representing the five cleaners who were outsourced from PT ISS Indonesia, said Friday the evidence that had been used to convict his clients was similar to the evidence used to charge Ferdinant and Bantleman.
"The evidence is almost the same; one of the kindergarten boys in the teachers' case is also an alleged victim in the cleaners' case. I don't see why they would not be released as well," Patra told The Jakarta Post.
Patra has been arguing that after his clients retracted their confession, said to be forced through police violence, the evidence shown at the trial was not strong enough to convict them. The prosecutors' documents were only three pages long, mostly consisting of the confessions the cleaners had retracted.
On Friday, after spending 13 months behind bars, Ferdinant and Bantleman were released from the Cipinang Penitentiary as appeals filed by their lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea were granted by the Jakarta High Court.
In the 38 page verdict, the panel of judges said the district court made a "shallow, inaccurate and not thorough consideration" in declaring both teachers guilty in the sexual abuse case that sentenced them to 10 years in prison.
The court also found that the medical examination released by Pondok Indah Hospital in South Jakarta, which showed the first child suffered injuries to his rectum, was suspicious as it was released after the result from state-run Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, which found no such injuries to the boy. The Pondok Indah Hospital result was also used to convict the cleaners.
Furthermore, according to the court, testimony delivered by the three kindergartners, who claimed to be victims in the case, were not relevant and could not support the evidence presented by the state prosecutors during the trial. "The only witnesses who have supporting testimony for the children were their parents whose testimony also came from their children, therefore it does not have any real weight," presiding judge Silvester Djuma said in the verdict.
Soon after walking away from the penitentiary, Ferdinant could not hide his happiness, saying that after being jailed for more than a year for a crime he did not commit, the hope of coming home to his family was starting to fade away. "My prayer was finally answered when this morning an officer told me that I had been acquitted," Ferdinant, struggling to hold back his tears, told the Post.
The arrests of Bantleman and Ferdinant in July last year followed allegations by the parents of a boy at the school who claimed he had been molested on a number of occasions over the past 18 months.
Earlier, four male janitors, Agun Iskandar, Virgiawan Amin, Zainal Abidin and Syahrial, were sentenced to eight years in prison in that case and female janitor Afrischa Setiyani received a seven-year prison sentence as an accomplice, while one other suspect, Azwar, died in police custody.
On Feb. 18, the Jakarta High Court upheld the conviction of the five former ISS Indonesia janitors, saying that the South Jakarta District Court delivered a valid verdict.
In a bid to challenge the district court and high court's decision, the five cleaners submitted their cassation to the Supreme Court through Patra. "However, I cannot be sure when the Supreme Court will announce their verdict," the lawyer said.
Controversy surrounding the case mounted as the first mother launched a US$125 million civil suit against JIS for the damage suffered by her son. The civil suit, however, was dismissed on Monday.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/15/teachers-freedom-gives-hope-cleaners.html