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Supreme Court Judges Breached Ethics Code: Prita
Dessy Sagita | August 16, 2011

Prita Mulyasari, following a hearing with Commission III General at Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 12, 2011. (JG Photo/ Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) Prita Mulyasari, following a hearing with Commission III General at Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, July 12, 2011. (JG Photo/ Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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Prita Mulyasari stepped up her fight against the Supreme Court on Monday by reporting three of its justices to the Judicial Commission for violating the code of ethics when they convicted her of defamation.

The criminal conviction, according to Slamet Yuwono, Prita’s attorney, was in direct contradiction with the same court’s earlier acquittal of his client in a related civil libel case.

“As a respectable institution that many people perceive to be the last legal resort, the Supreme Court should not make these kinds of conflicting rulings,” Slamet said.

There were so many “oddities” in the case, he added, that it was hard not to conclude that the justices had not been fair.

Prita’s decision to file a complaint with the Judicial Commission comes two weeks after the embattled 34-year-old Tangerang mother filed for a judicial review of the Supreme Court ruling. A judicial review is the final legal challenge available.

The Supreme Court ruling, which emerged in July, overturned a Tangerang District Court verdict clearing Prita in July 2009 of having defamed Omni International Hospital in e-mails she sent to friends.

Prita received a six-month suspended jail sentence, which means she will only be imprisoned if she offends again.

In a parallel civil libel case, Omni successfully sued Prita at the Tangerang District Court, winning damages of Rp 312 million ($36,500).

Prita appealed the decision to the Banten High Court, which cut the damages to Rp 204 million. She then appealed to the Supreme Court, which quashed the verdict altogether.

Slamet said the Supreme Court’s ruling in the civil case showed she had not defamed Omni in her e-mails. Yet, in stark contrast, its ruling in the criminal case stated otherwise.

He said Prita wanted the justices — M. Zaharuddin Utama, Salman Luthan and R. Imam Harjadi Slamet — to be questioned and, if found guilty of ethical violations, disciplined.

A spokesman for the Judicial Commission, Asep Rahmat Fajar, said Prita’s report would be discussed by a panel before any action was taken.

“The panel will verify the report and decide whether or not the report should be processed,” he said. It is too early, he added, to determine whether the justices named by Prita had violated the judicial code of ethics.

In an interview earlier this month, when she filed for a judicial review of the Supreme Court verdict, Prita told the Jakarta Globe that she wasn’t satisfied with the suspended sentence.

“I’m looking for freedom — freedom from conviction,” she said. “It’s not about being stubborn and refusing to stop. It’s for the future. What would my children’s future be if their mother is a criminal?”

Since her case attracted media attention in mid-2009, she has won the support of several prominent figures, activists and officials. Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri visited Prita during her brief time in jail.

Former Industry Minister Fahmi Idris, who appeared at the Tangerang court when Prita filed the judicial review, said the case showed the arrogance of law enforcers.

“There are strange things in Prita’s case,” he said.