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The Central Jakarta District Court sentenced on Tuesday former Constitutional Court clerk Mashuri Hasan to one year in prison for his role in a document forgery case.

The case centers on a Constitutional Court (MK) ruling in a dispute over a seat in the House of Representatives following elections in April 2009.

The Constitutional Court said former General Elections Commission (KPU) member Andi Nurpati had used a forged letter to give the House seat to Dewie Yasin Limpo, from the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), although it had ruled in favor of Mestariyani Habie, from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) .

Andi, who is now a spokeswoman for the ruling Democratic Party, has not been named a suspect. Nearly all those charged came from the court, which first reported the case to the police.

The Central Jakarta court ruled that Mashuri had forged the letter, copying the signature of another Constitutional Court clerk, and then sent it to the KPU in August 2009.

“The [forged] letter was used to name Dewie Yasin Limpo as a member of the House of Representatives from South Sulawesi,” Judge Herdi Agustin, who presided over the trial, said at Tuesday’s hearing.

Mashuri said he would appeal the decision to the Jakarta High Court. He acknowledged that he sent a fake letter to the KPU by fax on Aug. 14, 2009, but argued that it was a draft.

An original Constitutional Court letter, naming Mestariyani the winner of the seat, was sent to the KPU three days later, Mashuri said.

“The judges know that [former] KPU commissioner Andi Nurpati received the real letter on August 17, 2009, and that there had been a change in the original draft,” Mashuri said after the trial. “However, [the real letter] was not used in a [KPU] meeting on August 21, 2009. Instead, [Andi] used an outdated draft letter that was sent by fax.”

“About forging the signature and the MK letter number, I have to admit I did it. It is common inside the MK to speed up bureaucracy, but I sent the original letter.”

Andi has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the case, saying she could not have forged the letter because she did not have access to the court’s letterhead or the signatures of court officials.

After Tuesday’s ruling, the Constitutional Court urged the police to name Andi a suspect, saying there was enough evidence pointing to her involvement.

“With the [Central Jakarta District Court] ruling, the fact of the forged letter is undeniable,” said Akil Mochtar, a Constitutional Court judge and spokesman.

The case, he added, should be used as an entry point to unravel the presence of the so-called election mafia.

A member of the House working committee on poll fraud also asked the police to name Andi a suspect. “In the court ruling, Andi was named as using the letter. I think that is enough to prove her involvement,” said Chairuman Harahap, from Golkar.

Mashuri had said that he forged the letter at the behest of Dewie, Andi and Arsyad Sanusi, a former judge at the court.