REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Ahmad Dhani's lawyer, Hendarsam Marantoko, questioned the detention of his client at Medaeng Detention Center, Surabaya. He said the detention of his client in Surabaya was not appropriate as the defendant in defamation case was only have to attend the trials scheduled every Monday and Thursday.

"The trial is only two days in a week so he doesn't need to spend the rest five days at Medaeng prison," Hendarsam said on Thursday (Feb 14).

Hendarsam has made the same statement on February 4. He said the prosecutors should reconsider detention of Dhani in Surabaya in accordance with criminal procedural law. "The interest of Surabaya District Attorney is limited to present Dhani during the trial," he said.

Hendarsam said that it was difficult to communicate with Dhani since the detention of the Gerindra party politician moved to Medaeng Prison. He pointed out that it has made the work on compiling appeal memory could not be done easily.

"We can not communicate the  appeal memory with Dhani until Mrs Mulan (Dhani's wife) came. This is very detrimental to us as legal counsel, in submitting a defense," he said.

In fact, according to Hendarsam, he should be able to interact with Dhani, especially in relation to the appeal process, outside the hearing days. He claimed that his client is willing to finance the flight Jakarta-Surabaya-Jakarta to attend the trials.

He added that the detention of Dhani in Surabaya had weighed on the family, and this should also be a consideration so that Dhani could remain be detained in Jakarta. He expected that detainment of his client in Jakarta would ease communication between the defendant and his family and his legal advisors who managed appeal on case of hate speech on Twitter.

Dhani was sentenced to one and half years in prison for a case of hate speech through his Twitter account. Dhani has filed an appeal and it made his case had not been legally enforced (inkrah). At the same time, Dhani also faced a trial at the Surabaya District Court.

The case began when Dhani was about to attend the 2019 Presidential Change declaration at Tugu Pahlawan Surabaya, East Java on August 26, 2018. 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.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika