TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Ferdy Sambo was sentenced to death in the premeditated murder case of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat alias Brigadier J. Ferdy Sambo’s verdict it was higher than the prosecutor’s previous demands, namely life imprisonment. “Put down the defendant Ferdy Sambo with death penalty,” said Chairman of the Panel of Judges Wahyu Iman Santoso when reading out the verdict, Monday, February 13, 2023.
The origins of the death penalty in Indonesia
Quoting a book Politics of Death Penalty Policy in Indonesia from Time to Time (2017), dynamics death sentence in Indonesia has existed since the Dutch colonial era.
The Governor General of the Dutch East Indies, Herman Willem Daendels in 1808 imposed the death penalty to silence all forms of rebellion and resistance. This death penalty policy is contained in the rules Council of India.
In 1848 the death penalty was still valid with the issuance of a penal code called Interim Penal Provisions LNHB 1848.
The consolidation of the practice of the death penalty in the Dutch East Indies continues. On January 1, 1873 the Dutch formed Penal Code for Natives (Indonesians). On the other hand, the death penalty was abolished in the Netherlands in 1870. The Dutch East Indies government maintained the death penalty as an emergency law.
In 1942, when Japan arrived, it also imposed the death penalty. On March 2, 1942, Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura, Commander of the 16th Army, issued Martial Law through a special decree.
After Indonesia became independent in 1945, the death penalty remained in the Indonesian legal system. However, after the reforms in 1998, Indonesia began to adopt a policy of suspended death sentences and did not carry out executions for several years.
In 2013, the Indonesian government announced it would resume executions of the death penalty for narcotics cases. Since then, there have been several executions carried out, including the highly controversial one in 2015 of several foreign prisoners convicted of drug charges.
Polemic on Ferdy Sambo’s death sentence
The death sentence has now befallen Ferdy Sambo. The former two-star police general was involved in the premeditated murder case of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat or Brigadier J.
Komnas HAM commissioner Hari Kurniawan responds to Ferdy Sambo’s death sentence. According to him, the death penalty should no longer be used. “Komnas HAM views that the use of the death penalty in sentencing should be removed from the legal system in Indonesia,” said Hari, Monday, February 13, 2023.
Hari is of the opinion that the abolition of the death penalty from the penal system is in line with human rights principles. According to him, in this principle, the right to life is a right that cannot be taken away by anyone, including the state. “The right to life is a right that cannot be reduced under any circumstances,” he said.
The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence or KontraS criticized the death sentence handed down to Ferdy Sambo. KontraS stated that the sentence was inconsistent with the spirit of the moratorium on executions since 2016. “The imposition of the death sentence is not in line with the spirit of the moratorium on executions,” said KontraS Coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti, Monday, 13 February 2023.
The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud Md opened his voice regarding the death sentence handed down by the panel of judges Freddy Sambo. Mahfud said the verdict was in accordance with the public’s sense of justice. “Hence the verdict is in accordance with the public’s sense of justice, Sambo was given a heart sentence,” said Mahfud via his Twitter account, @mohmahfudmd, Monday, February 13, 2023.
Mahfud believes that the verdict was passed not without reason. He considered the premeditated murder of Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat to be cruel. The proof by the public prosecutor, he said, was almost perfect. “The incident indeed premeditated murder cruel. The proof by the public prosecutor is almost perfect,” he said.
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