IO, Jakarta – The case of splashing acid attack against Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi – “KPK”) investigator Novel Baswedan has entered a new stage. Investigation of the acid attack, which occurred on 11 April 2017, finally shed some light at the end of the tunnel when the Metro Jaya Provincial Precinct named Rony Bugis and Rahmat Kadir as suspects in the attack in December 2019. The case, which caused Novel partial loss of his vision, will be heard for the first time in the District Court of North Jakarta on Thursday (19/03/2020), with the agenda of reading out the charges against the two defendants.
Novel’s Team of lawyers hopes that the Public Prosecutor can reveal the motive behind the attack against Novel and the actors involved. They also hope that the Prosecutor can bring out strong evidence in the court, and prosecute the defendants to the utmost limits of the Law while remaining objective. “After all, we note that the Case is not just an attack against an individual, but a direct attack on KPK and efforts to eradicate corruption,” Team member Alghiffari Aqsa, S.H., said.
Alghiffari said that the Advocates’ Team will continue to monitor the Court’s proceedings, even though they are not making any special plans yet for the first session. “We are just going to monitor the proceedings. With the existing pandemic, we will not be inviting a lot of people to attend the hearing either,” he said.
Similar Alghiffari, the Corruption Eradication Commission’s Employee Forum (Wadah Pegawai Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi – “WP KPK”) will also monitor the first hearing of the attack of Novel as a senior KPK investigation. “We will attend while reviewing the situation; we will see what the charges will be,” WP KPK’s Chairman, Yudi Purnomo Harahap, stated at the KPK Building in Jakarta.
WP KPK expects that the reading of the charges will reveal salient facts in the attack on Novel. Furthermore, they expect that all actors will be revealed as the hearing proceeds. “That is our expectations, and we will attend if possible, to see how things go. After all, this is important,” Yudi said.
Apart from KPK, the Koalisi Masyarakat Sipil or Civilian Community Coalition, who serve as Novel’s Legal Counsel, has confirmed their attendance. “Therefore we will see how the proceedings will go. It is important to listen to the charges because it summarizes the process from start to end, and describes facts of the perpetrators’ actions,” Yudi said.
The Police have announced earlier that Rony was the person who splashed Novel with acid, together with Rahmat who drove the motorcycle. However, their motive for attacking Novel remains unclear even till now. It is only known that Rony has been recorded as shouting that he dislikes Novel Baswedan. “For the record, I don’t like that man,” Rony is quoted of saying it once. (Dan)