TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Constitutional Court annulled three Articles of contempt on the ex-President. The constitutional judge panel stated that Article 134, 136 and 137 in the Criminal Code contradicted the 1945 Constitution. The Articles hamper the freedom for conveying thoughts orally or written and the right to express himself, said the Chairman of Constitutional Court Jimly Asshiddiqie, reading the verdict during open trial to the public in Constitutional Court yesterday (6/12).The Constitutional Panel stated that the three Articles do not have binding legal power any more. The Panel ordered the verdict to be written in the State Gazette. The first request of the judicial and formal review on Criminal Code Articles about contempt on the ex-president was proposed by the attorneys of Eggy Sudjana and activist Pandapotan Lubis in July 2006. They regarded that the three Articles are ambiguous. Eggy is the defendant of the ex-Presidents reputation ng which first stood trial at Central Jakarta District Court.However, the verdict was not by acclamation. Four out of nine constitutional judges had dissenting opinions. They are I Dewa Gde Palguna, Soedarsono, H.A.S. Natabaya and Achmad Roestandi.According to them the Articles are still necessary to protect the ex-Presidents and Vice Presidents dignity. They viewed that the case faced by Eggy and Pandapotan is about legal implementation by investigators, not about the Constitution. Investigators must be able to differentiate contempt from critique of the ex-President, they said.Mualimin Abdi, Head of the Sub-directorate at the Justice and Human Rights Department, representing the government, said he appreciated the verdict. He said the verdict will be sent to the government. However, Mualimin said the government is now completing the revision on Criminal Codes. Criminal Codes will actually be changed. So the verdict strengthens this, he said.SANDY INDRA PRATAMA