TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Attorney General's Office Intelligence Team in collaboration with the Central Jakarta District Attorney Team has arrested the Editor in Chief of Obor Rakyat (People’s Torch) Tabloid Setyardi Budiono and the Managing Editor Darmawan Sepriyosa on Tuesday, May 8. Setyardi was arrested in Gambir, Central Jakarta while Darmawan in East Tebet, South Jakarta.
"We have arrested the related in order to enforce a court ruling that has a permanent legal force," said Head of Attorney General’s Information Center Mohammad Rum in a written statement received by Tempo on Tuesday night.
According to him, Setyardi and Darmawan have previously exercised their rights in making legal efforts both through Appeal and Cassation.
Furthermore, Rum said the two men convicted will be executed to Cipinang Penitentiary to serve the sentence.
Setyardi and Darmawan were sentenced to eight months imprisonment by the Supreme Court because it was proven to have defamed Joko Widodo or Jokowi in the 2014 Presidential Election.
Earlier, in mid-2014, they were reported on charges of defamation and slander against Jokowi through the Obor Rakyat tabloid.
The tabloid was distributed to mosques and Islamic boarding schools in a number of areas on Java Island, which mentioned Jokowi as a Chinese descendant and foreign accomplice.
Both deal with the court. They were facing the trial in the Central Jakarta District Court on charges of violating Article 310 (2) of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 (1) of the Criminal Code.
Rum mentioned Setyardi and Darmawan have increased the length of the fugitive series arrested by the Tabur (Fugitive Arrest) Team throughout 2018.
Meanwhile, through the Tabur program, he said, every High Prosecutor is given the target of arrest at least one fugitive crime each month.
CAESAR AKBAR