Novel Doubts the Motive of Suspects

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Two suspects of an acid attack on Novel Baswedan, an investigator with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), are taken by officers to be transferred to the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department from the Jakarta Police headquarters, South Jakarta, Saturday (28/12/2019). The police arrested the two suspects, identified as RM and RB, who are active police members.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS —Corruption Eradication Commission senior investigator Novel Baswedan, who was a victim of an acid attack, expressed appreciation for the National Police’s efforts to arrest the suspected perpetrators of the attack.

When the suspects, identified as RM and RB, who were active members of the police, were transferred from the Jakarta Police detention room to the National Police Criminal Investigation Department’s detention room on Saturday (28/12/2019), RB shouted. He said Novel was a traitor and he didn\'t like him. Meanwhile, the police are still not ready to unveil their preliminary findings regarding the motives of the perpetrators.

Responding to this, Novel, when contacted in Jakarta on Sunday (29/12), said that there was a positive side from the police’s efforts to solve his case. However, he questions the motive of the perpetrators that were said to have disliked him. According to Novel, he has no personal problems with the perpetrators. "If it is said [that their motive was] a personal grudge and has nothing to do with anything else, it feels weird right?" Novel said.

Furthermore, Novel did not want to give much comment. He said he respected the legal process and would wait for further proceedings.

The acid attack against Novel took place in April 2017. As a result, Novel’s left eye was badly damaged.

Perpetrators from same unit

Head of the National Police Public Information Bureau, Brig. Gen. (Pol) Argo Yuwono, said RB and RM were from the same unit. However, he was not willing to unveil the name of the unit, the full names and rank of the perpetrators. "Regarding that issue [the rank of the suspects), let the judge ask them during trial," he said.

He warned the public that the case allegedly involving suspects RM and RB must still be seen in the context of the presumption of innocence. "The task of the police is not to judge, but to prove it in court," Argo said.

According to him, the two suspects have been charged under Article 170 in addition to Article 351 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code. The two articles deal with violence that is carried out jointly in public and attacks that lead to serious injuries.

Six potential cases

Commissioner of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Choirul Anam said legally there was a reason the investigation was not open to the public. This was done partly because there was concern that evidence could be damaged.

However, according to Anam, given that Novel’s case had received public attention, even from President Joko Widodo, it would be better if developments in the case were made transparent.

According to Anam, Novel is a human rights defender. The reason is that the attack against Novel happened as a result of his work in eradicating corruption.

The conclusions of the fact-finding team in the case, among others, is that there are six cases that have the potential to be related to the Novel attack. The six cases are the graft case related to electronic ID cards; the corruption of former Constitutional Court chief Akil Mochtar; the corruption of the former secretary-general of the Supreme Court Nurhadi; the corruption of the former regent of Buol, Central Sulawesi and the Wisma Athlete corruption case.

Anam said the relations of suspects RM and RB must be mentioned in those six cases.

In addition, the attack on Novel is thought to be related to Novel\'s alleged involvement in the shooting of swallow nests thieves in Bengkulu, 2004 (Kompas, 18/7/2019).

Alghiffari Aqsa from Novel’s legal advocacy team said the statement of one of the perpetrators who had been arrested could be investigated. (IAN/INK)