Rizieq Shihab Sentenced to IDR20 Million Fine for Megamendung Case
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27 May 2021 18:14 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The panel of judges at the East Jakarta District Court sentenced Rizieq Shihab to an IDR20 million fine for the mass gathering case in Megamendung, Bogor, West Java. The fine could be substituted for five months imprisonment.
"The defendant is legally and convincingly proven to have committed a criminal act of disobeying the implementation of the law on health quarantine," the presiding judge Suparman Nyompa read the verdict on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Rizieq was found guilty of committing a criminal act in accordance with Article 93 of Law No. 6 of 2018 on Health Quarantine. Rizieq was deemed responsible for the crowds in Megamendung. However, it was considered accidental.
The judge said that the matters that incriminated the leader of the now-disbanded FPI were his actions of not supporting the government in preventing Covid-19. Meanwhile, some facts that helped lessen the charges were that he kept his promise to prevent sympathizers from coming to the investigation so that the trial could run smoothly.
In addition, Rizieq was considered as an admired religious figure so he was expected to educate people in the future, "to comply with the government regulations for the common good," Suparman added.
In this case, Rizieq Shihab was charged over violations of the predetermined health protocols by attracting crowds as he attended a groundbreaking ceremony of an Islamic boarding school on Friday, November 13, 2020.
M YUSUF MANURUNG
