PIKIRAN RAKYAT - Another bad precedent struck the Indonesian Police’s reputation. Members of Indonesia’s Mobile Brigade Corps known as Brimob were reported trying to disrupt the trial of its members over the last stadium crush that left 135 dead known as the Kanjuruhan Tragedy on 14 February 2023.
A video shared on social media went viral and sparked a lively debate on the occasion. The video showed the officers, dressed in their distinctive navy blue berets, jeering and heckling as prosecutors arrived in the courtroom.
The ongoing trial was about the reading of court orders from prosecutors regarding mal procedures over riot dispersion tactics employed by a number of Police Officers in the Kanjuruhan Tragedy. Police, including Brimob officers, fired tear gas indiscriminately into the packed stands resulting in 135 dead in a stadium stampede on an October 2022 match between local team Arema FC and rivals Persebaya Surabaya.
“We consider the behavior of the dozens of Brimob officers a form of contempt of court because their attitude was disgraceful and inappropriate, and a form of intimidation against the Public Prosecutor,” said Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (Yayasan LBH Indonesia) in its tweet following the incident.
Baca Juga: Teriakan Gerombolan Brimob di Sidang Tragedi Kanjuruhan Dinilai Pengaruhi Nuansa Kemandirian Hakim
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute added that the behavior showed a clear abuse of power designed to disrupt the legal process.
“We have even been informed that the intimidation attempt toward the prosecutors was not only done verbally, but also physically (by elbowing the prosecutors),” said them in the statement.
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute also said that the intimidation succeed in silencing prosecutors when the legal process was carried out at the time. The prosecutors did not object when the Judges Panel read the court order.
The trial was delivered to three of Brimob's Officers, Wahyu S, the Chief of Operations of the Malang Regency Police; Hasdarman, the Commander of the 3rd Mobile Brigade Corps of the East Java Regional Police and Bambang Sidik Ahmadi, the Head of the Prevention Unit of the Malang Regency Police.