REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA - The panel of the judges in defamation case on Tuesday (Feb 12) has not made their decision on note of objection of the defendant, Gerindra Party politician Dhani Ahmad Prasetyo. The hearing held at the Surabaya District Court, to be continued on Thursday.

Team of lawyers for Dhani said the prosecutor's charge against Dhani in defamation case was unclear. The indictment was difficult to understand, Dhani's attorney, Aldwin Rahardian, said.

According to Aldwin, the prosecutor's did not specify the place where the defendant distribute content of insults. Whereas the main element in the offense of Article 45 Paragraph (3) in conjunction with Article 27 Paragraph (3) of the Information and Electronic transaction (ITE) Law, according to him, is to distribute and or transmit and make accessible electronic information that is the object of a criminal act.

"The 'locus delicti' must be determined to pin point where the defendant distributed or made accessible electronic information that is the object of a criminal act," he said when reading the objection note before the panel of judges led by Anton Widyo Priyono.

In addition, Aldwin said, those who can complaint (klacht) for violations of Article 27 Paragraph (3) of the ITE Law are only victims who are defamed or insulted. He explained that Article 27 Paragraph (3) of the ITE Law the application of its enforcement is bound to Article 310 and Article 311 of the Criminal Code.

Aldwin said only victims may complain about violations of Article 27 Paragraph (3) of the ITE Law. The victims are individuals, not organizations, associations or law agencies, he remarked.

Based on the whole description, the defendant's legal counsel pleaded with the panel of judges who examined, tried, and decided on this case to be willing to make the decision as fair as possible.

"We ask the panel of judges to accept the exception or note of objection from the defendant through his legal counsel for the whole, and also state that the public prosecutor's indictment is null and void," he said.

Responding to this exception, the judge asked for time to continue the trial next Thursday. "The hearing is postponed until next Thursday," he said.

The case involving Ahmad Dhani as defendant began when he was about to attend the 2019 Presidential Change declaration at Tugu Pahlawan Surabaya, East Java. However, he could not leave the Majapahit Hotel as a group on behalf of the Bela NKRI element hold demonstration against him outside the hotel.

At that time, Dhani made a vlog and uploaded it to social media with a duration of 1 minute, 37 seconds. He allegedly insulted the protester as idiot.

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