The trial of a former Indonesian police common accused of orchestrating the homicide of his bodyguard began at a Jakarta court docket on Monday, in a case that has put a highlight on alleged impunity and corruption within the nation’s police power.
The case in opposition to Ferdy Sambo, an ex-inspector common and head of inner affairs on the nationwide police, has gripped the general public in a rustic the place surveys present mistrust of the police stays excessive.
Police had initially mentioned the bodyguard, 27-year-old brigadier Nopryansyah Yosua Hutabarat, was killed in a shootout with one other officer at Sambo’s Jakarta residence on July 8.
However claims by Hutabarat’s household that there have been indicators of torture on the bodyguard’s physique led to a second post-mortem, which noticed the police model of occasions unravel.
Sambo, who was dishonourably discharged in August, has been charged with premeditated homicide, an offense that may carry the loss of life penalty, and obstruction of justice.
In court docket on Monday, a prosecutor alleged Sambo had ordered one in all his officers to shoot Hutabarat, earlier than placing a ultimate bullet behind his head and firing his gun into the wall to create the looks of a shootout.
Prosecutors mentioned the motive was a perception the bodyguard had sexually assaulted Sambo’s spouse.
Sambo’s lawyer declined to say how his consumer would plead however in a information convention final week mentioned Sambo had ordered that Hutabarat be assaulted, not shot.
In complete, 5 individuals, together with Sambo, his spouse, two cops and a driver, are dealing with expenses of premeditated homicide in relation to Hutabarat’s loss of life.
A lawyer for Sambo’s spouse declined to touch upon her plea.
Forward of the trial, police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo had mentioned there had been makes an attempt to destroy proof within the case.
In an announcement on August 24, Prabowo mentioned 97 officers had been being investigated, with 35 accused of moral violations.
The police power, which ranked because the least trusted of Indonesia’s regulation enforcement our bodies in a latest survey by pollster Indikator, can also be dealing with strain over its function in a lethal soccer stampede earlier this month that killed greater than 130 individuals.
