Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned Wednesday’s decision by a court in Tual, in the eastern province of Maluku, to acquit three men of the murder of Sun TV cameraman Ridwan Salamun, who was killed on August 21, 2010 while covering a clash between the inhabitants of neighbouring villages. The press freedom organisation called for a judicial review of the case and a retrial.
The prosecutors had originally charged the three men – Hasan Tamange, Ibrahim Raharusun and Sahar Renuat – with “committing murder” but subsequently changed the charge to “persecution” and requested sentences of just eight months.
Although the three defendants are widely regarded as responsible for the cameraman’s death, the presiding judges ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove its case and ordered them freed under Indonesia’s Criminal Procedure Law (KUHAP)
No one has so far been arrested in the investigation into the December 17 murder of Alfrets Mirulewan, the editor of Pelangi Weekly, in the same province.
