On February 16th violence broke out at the Ashram of Anand Krishna in Ubud. The South Jakarta District Attorney Office tried to arrest Anand Krishna by force and and they employed a sizeable number of uniformed men. Those men, who were supposed to be policemen, violently flung and smacked Anand Krishna’s sympathizers down, the people who formed a human barricade, who were trying to stop and prevent any attempt to arrest Anand Krishna.
The family members of Anand Krishna regretted the arrest of this interfaith spiritual figure. They deemed it a form of abuse of power perpetrated by the Attorney Office. They requested President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to intervene on this matter.
Because of this execution of the arrest warrant by force carried out by a joint team of the District Attorney Office and Police on Saturday February 16th, 2013 at Anand Ashram in Ubud, Bali, Anand Krishna’s party will take this case to the President. “We are going to report this arrest by force to President SBY through Presidential Advisory Council and the Police Headquarters. The Supreme Court’s decision is legally null and void since it does not comply with the law,” Prashant Gangtani, the son of Anand Krishna confirmed.
Prashant added, “The arrest on Saturday was an abuse of power committed by the South Jakarta District Court. To continue executing a decision that is unlawful is the same as taking away somebody’s freedom. Here we requested SBY to reprimand his aide, which is the Attorney Office.”
Other than reporting this to the President, Prashant is also going to report this arrest by force to National Commission on Human Rights and Indonesian Police Headquarters. “We want the Police to intervene and immediately arrest Mashyudi as the Head of South Jakarta District Attorney Office for the allegation of violating article 333 of the Indonesian Criminal Code about taking away somebody’s freedom,” he explained.
Mashyudi gave the order to his subordinates to conduct this arrest by force. Mashyudi should know that the Supreme Court’s decision is unlawful because it does not fulfil all the requirements as stipulated by article 197 of Criminal Code Procedure. “He simply ignored the law and continued to misuse his power, therefore, we fear that there will be other victims who will also lose their freedom,” Prashant said, full of regret.
As many people already know, on November 22nd, 2012 the Constitutional Court already confirmed that in order to criminalize someone, article 197 paragraph 1 must be fulfiled. Even Commission III People’s Representative Assembly already asked the High Attorney Office specifically to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court. This is done in order to uphold justice and the rules of law.
Prashant added, the Attorney Office has committed abuse of power many times in the case of Anand Krishna. “According to Criminal Code Procedure an acquittal cannot be appealed, it’s a legal violation that the Prosecutor Martha Berliana Tobing committed. And the Supreme Court also granted the appeal and made a decision to overturn the acquittal, although it does not comply with article 197 so it’s declared legally null and void. Yet it didn’t stop them from executing the arrest warrant,” Prashant concluded.
Here you can find the video about the violence at the Ashram of Anand Krishna.