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Prosecutors to Appeal Anand Krishna’s Acquittal
Rangga Prakoso | November 29, 2011

Spiritual guru Anand Krishna holds his wife after being freed at the South Jakarta District Court last Tuesday. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) Spiritual guru Anand Krishna holds his wife after being freed at the South Jakarta District Court last Tuesday. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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Good,Bad and Ugly
6:09am Nov 30, 2011

A person should not be prosecuted for the same crime twice.

The Government had the chance to put together a proper case. If the prosecutors are too incompetent to do it right....!

If they feel that the judges were influenced, then that should be the objective of their enquiries.

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Prosecutors plan to file an appeal against the acquittal last week of renowned spiritual teacher Anand Krishna on sexual harassment charges.

Masyhudi, the head of the South Jakarta Prosecutors’ Office, said on Tuesday that his office would file the appeal based on reasonable doubt raised by the ruling at the initial trial at the South Jakarta District Court.

“The judges’ decision to acquit Anand wasn’t a pure acquittal,” he said. “There was [a finding of improper] conduct, but it wasn’t criminal in nature. Nevertheless, we’ll wait for a copy of the official ruling to be sent to us first so that we can prepare the appeal.”

Otto Hasibuan, Anand’s lawyer, said it was regrettable that prosecutors were seeking to appeal the verdict, calling the move a deliberate waste of time.

He added that if the appeal was filed, his side would file a counter-motion to block the case going back to court.

“I believe you have to take Judge Albertina Ho’s reputation into consideration,” he said, referring to the widely respected judge who presided over the trial. “The prosecutors shouldn’t force an appeal if the facts show that Anand deserved to go free.”

Prosecutors had sought a two-and-a-half-year sentence for the guru.

On Nov. 22, Anand was acquitted of charges that he sexually harassed three of his students.

The case emerged in February 2010, when a former student, Tara Pradiptha Laksmi, reported Anand to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), accusing him of sexually abusing her while she was under hypnosis in March 2009.

She claimed he forced his students to watch him and his followers engage in sexual acts that he allegedly described as “energy transfer.” Two other former disciples, Sinta and Sumidah, later joined Tara in leveling similar accusations.

“They were made to perform oral sex, which nearly led to free sex,” their lawyer, Theresia Purba, said at the time. “Free sex” is a term commonly used in Indonesia to refer to extramarital sex.

The claims were a blow to the self-styled guru, who for 17 years had spread spiritual messages about health and education to millions of Indonesians via his radio and TV shows, books and workshops held at his meditation centers in Jakarta, Bogor, Yogyakarta and Bali. In response, he vehemently denied that he had hypnotized women in order to take advantage of them.

“I do not engage in hypnosis or conduct hypnotherapy,” he said. “At my centers, we only make suggestions as to how people can, for instance, overcome their fears.”

Judge Albertina ruled that there had been no evidence or witnesses to back up the plaintiffs’ accusations.