Suspect Threatening to Behead Jokowi Sends Apology Letter
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21 May 2019 22:08 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Suspect for making a death threat against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, Hermawan Susanto (25), reportedly sent an apology letter asking for the president’s mercy.
Hermawan is known as the man who spouted in a viral video of his plans to behead Indonesia’s president.
According to his lawyer Sugiarto Atmowijoyo, the apology letter Hermawan wrote inside the Metro Jaya Police Detention Facility is directly addressed to Jokowi in hopes of being forgiven of his actions.
“The letter is directly addressed to Bapak Jokowi,” said his lawyer today, May 21.
Sugiarto argues that Hermawan’s threat was driven by the heat of the moment and never actually meant to actually conduct the killing. “There was no intention to murder the president or anything related to that,” the lawyer defended.
Hermawan grabbed his 15-minutes of fame after a video circulated in the internet showing him among fellow protesters in the midst of a rally in front of the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) on Friday, May 10.
Both Hermawan and his father fled to Parung, Bogor, after he was aware that his words contained criminal offenses. He was then arrested at his relative’s house on the following Sunday morning.
He currently faces multiple charges for his actions and is facing the possibility of handed the death penalty, life, or 20 years imprisonment.
His words in the viral video were; “[I’m] from Poso, ready to behead Jokowi in the name of Allah.”
ADAM PRIREZA
