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The Central Jakarta District Court on Monday acquitted a trash picker on charges of possessing marijuana, lending weight to his protests that he was framed by police officers.

Presiding Judge Syarifuddin ruled the police dossier was legally flawed.

“The indictment is therefore unacceptable and the defendant is acquitted of all charges,” he said.

An emotional Chairul Saleh, 40, bowed to the bench after the ruling was read.

“I just can’t express how happy I am with this decision,” he said. “There’s justice in this country after all.”

Police had accused Chairul of possessing a marijuana cigarette, for which prosecutors had sought a one-year prison sentence.

Defense lawyer Raja Nasution said Chairul had been scavenging along the railway tracks in Menteng, Central Jakarta, when police arrested him in September during a drug bust. He has been in detained ever since.

Officers found the marijuana and forced Chairul to confess it was his, Raja added.

“He denied either possessing or consuming it,” the lawyer said.

But in the dossier submitted to prosecutors, police included statements attributed to Chairul in which he confessed to buying the marijuana from a drug dealer who had fled the scene, he said.

“The officers put the words in my client’s mouth,” Raja said.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the force had punished the six officers from the Central Jakarta Police station who were believed to have falsified Chairul’s dossier.

“We noticed there were irregularities in the dossier,” Boy said. “It included statements from the six officers, none of whom were involved in the sting in which the suspect was arrested.”

Two of the officers have since been demoted, while the rest have been transferred and will have their scheduled promotions delayed.

Prosecutors alleged Chairul was guilty simply by being at the scene of the alleged drug deal. The court has given them seven days to lodge an appeal.

Patra Zen, an advocate from the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), said the verdict set a rare and important precedent for legal access for the poor, who are often marginalized by the justice system.

“The poor often fall victim to police extortion and trumped-up charges,” he said. “Chairul is one of the fortunate few. The state must ensure all citizens have access to a fair trial and due legal process.

“Even today, the poor often have to defend themselves in court because the courts fail to appoint pro bono lawyers from the LBH, for instance,” Patra added.

“They breach the defendants’ rights by failing to provide them with a fair trial.”