ANN/THE STAR – A military court has sentenced two Indonesian Navy officers to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of fatally shooting the owner of a car rental company in Tangerang, Banten, earlier this year.
The court found Chief Seaman Bambang Apri Atmojo and First Sergeant Akbar Adli guilty of committing premeditated murder and unlawfully taking possession of a stolen vehicle belonging to the victim, rental owner Ilyas Abdurrahman.
Another defendant, First Sergeant Rafsin Hermawan, was convicted of trading in stolen goods.
The judges sentenced him to four years in prison. All three defendants were dishonourably discharged from the Indonesian Navy. The defendants and prosecutors told the court they would wait a week before announcing whether they would appeal the verdict.
The judges’ sentencing was in line with the demands of the military prosecutors. But the bench, presided over by Judge Lieutenant Colonel Arif Rachman, did not grant the prosecutors’ request for the defendants to pay restitution to the victims in the case.
Prosecutors called for Bambang to pay IDR355 million (USD21,438) to the families of 48-year-old rental business owner Ilyas and Ramli, who was seriously injured after being shot by one of the defendants in the incident.
Meanwhile, Akbar and Rafsin faced a similar demand of restitution with a total amount of IDR220 million for the families of both victims.
“The defendants were unable to pay the restitution, but this does not foreclose the possibility that the defendants and a third party can resolve the issue in the future,” judge Arif said at the hearing.
He added that the amount of restitution the prosecutors had demanded was based on guidelines for terrorism cases, while the shooting was not an act of terrorism.
Arif said the judges also considered it unfair to demand restitution only of the three defendants, as two more individuals, identified as Ires, aka Isra, 39, and Ajat Supriatna, 29, were also allegedly involved in the case. The two figures allegedly rented the car from Ilyas to be sold to the defendants.
During the trial of the three Navy officers, Ires and Ajat were summoned to testify as witnesses, but they failed to appear at the hearing.
The judges added that the victims’ families could file a lawsuit against the defendants to demand they pay restitution for their losses. Killing by armed personnel on January 2, Ilyas was involved in an altercation at a rest stop along the Tangerang-Merak toll road in Tangerang as he was attempting to recover his car, which had been rented under a false identity with the alleged intention of stealing it.
The court found that Bambang fired five shots in the altercation with Akbar’s service handgun. A shot, fired from a distance of one metre, struck and killed Ilyas in front of a minimarket at the rest stop.
Other shots struck and injured Ramli, who was still receiving medical treatment in the hospital at the time of the trial. Ilyas and Ramli’s families attended the verdict hearing.
The shooting has raised concerns about extrajudicial killings by members of the armed forces in recent years.
While criticising the judges for not granting the request for restitution, human rights group Amnesty International Indonesia said the ruling should serve as an impetus to revise the 1997 Military Court Law to enshrine equality before the law, especially for military personnel found guilty of general crimes.
The group recorded 55 cases of extrajudicial killings in 2024, most of which were committed by military and police officers. Since January, at least four cases have been committed by TNI personnel.
“With an increase in criminal cases involving military personnel, the government and House of Representatives must immediately work to expedite the revision of the Military Court Law,” Amnesty International Indonesia deputy director Wirya Adiwena said.
“Reform of the military court system will be important to prevent impunity and ensure that everyone, without any exceptions, adheres to the same law.”
