Dahnil Azhar Testifies in Ratna Sarumpaet Hoax Trial

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dahnil Simanjuntak, the spokesperson of the Prabowo-Sandiaga camp, came to the South Jakarta Court this morning. He came to take the witness stand in the hearing for the fake news case with defendant Ratna Sarumpaet.

Dahnil arrived in court shortly after 9:00 and did not give statements to reporters.

Dahnil only said that he will testify in accordance to what he said in the police investigation report (BAP) when he was questioned by the Jakarta Metro Police. 

In the prosecutors' indictment, Dahnil's name was mentioned as one of the people who spread the information about Ratna Sarumpaet's attack, which turned out to be a lie. He posted the story on his Twitter account on October 2, last year.

Read also: Ratna Sarumpaet Complains, Police: Don't End Up in Jail

The indictment stated that he wrote Ratna was "afraid to file a report due to trauma." 

"We want to bring all witnesses, including Dahnil, so [their testimonies] can support the elements of the article that we are charging them with," public prosecutor Daroe Trisadono said before the hearing.

In addition to Dahnil, the prosecutors will also bring three other people to the witness stand; Chairullah and Harjono who joined a protest protesting Ratna's alleged attack, and Deden, a suspect in a money fraud case.

Ratna Sarumpaet is being charged with two accounts. She is accused of violating Article 14 of Law no.1/1946 for spreading lies, and deliberately causing public unrest. She is also charged with violating Law no.19/2016, a.k.a, the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE) for spreading false information with the purpose of inciting discriminative hate and hostility between individuals/groups.

TAUFIQ SIDDIQ