Military prosecutors have sought two-and-a-half years in prison for each of the four soldiers charged over an acid attack on an activist critical of the armed forces’ perceived expanding role in government.
Andrie Yunus, 27, of the KontraS rights group, suffered serious injuries when two men on a scooter threw acid at him in March while he was riding a motorbike.
He had just finished recording a podcast about the military’s influence on the Indonesian government.
Four members of the military’s Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) were arrested, and BAIS head Yudi Abrimantyo stepped down in what officials said was a “form of responsibility”.
Defendants Edi Sudarko, 45; Budi Hariyanto Widhi Cahyono, 43; Nandala Dwi Prasetia, 40; and Sami Lakka, 41, were charged with premeditated assault for the attack that left Andrie blind in one eye.
Andrie and others have asked for the trial to be held in a civilian court and not a military one, due to fears of a cover-up in a country where attacks on activists are rarely punished. — AFP
