TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The South Jakarta District Court held a closed trial of the Jakarta International School (JIS) sexual harassment case on Thursday, March 26, 2015, with Neil Bantleman and Ferdinant Tjiong as the suspects. The trial was set to hear the defendants plea.
The court explained that the trial was held in private in compliance to Article 153 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Law (KUHAP). Article 153 of the KUHAP states that judges have the authority to limit public access to a trial if the case was related to harassment against children.
In his defense, which was conveyed at the end of last year, Neil said that he had never received any protest while he was teaching at JIS for the last 17 years.
Both Neil and Ferdinant denied their suspect status on July 10, 2014. Neil and Ferdinant were suspects for committing sexual harassment on three JIS pre-school students with the initials AK, AL, and DA.
Neil and Ferdinant were charged with Article 82 of Law No. 23/2002 on Child Protection and may be subject to a maximum of 15 years of imprisonment and Rp 300 million fines.
RAYMUNDUS RIKANG