Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Police's Ethics Code Commission (KKEP) handed Second Constable Richard Eliezer a one-year demotion for his involvement in the premeditated murder of Brigadier Yosua Hutabarat.

The South Jakarta District Court had earlier sentenced Eliezer to imprisonment for one year and six months for the premeditated murder last week.

Meanwhile, his superior, Ferdy Sambo, who masterminded the murder, was sentenced to death by the same district court on Monday (February 13). Sambo had been dishonorably discharged from the police by the KKEP in August 2022.

"We decided to impose an administrative sanction on (Eliezer) in the form of demotion for one year," the police's Public Information Bureau Head Brigadier General Ahmad Ramadhan quoted the verdict, as read on Wednesday (February 22).

The commission found that Eliezer had violated the ethics code by murdering Hutabarat in July 2022 and using the Police's Glock service firearm, bearing the code MPV 851, outside the scope of its permitted use.

As the ethics commission concurred that Eliezer's actions constituted a disgraceful act, they also ordered him to apologize before the KKEP and the Police leadership.

Meanwhile, the bureau head affirmed that the ethics commission has considered various mitigating factors before handing in the sentence.

The commission understood that Eliezer had been a justice collaborator in the case investigation and had expressed his apology to Hutabarat's parents, who forgave him. They also took into account his young age and honesty as well as the fact that he shot Hutabarat due to enormous pressure to heed to the instruction, as he was the lowest in rank when the murder occurred.

Hence, the ethics commission decided to retain him as a police officer, as per Article 12, Paragraph 1, Letter (a) of Government Regulation No. 1 of 2003, Ramadhan stated.

"The commission, as the authorized body to consider this issue, argued that the defendant can continue serving as a police officer," he stated.

He noted that Eliezer would undergo the one-year demotion sentence handed to him at the Police's Headquarters Service (Yanma) department.

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Translator: Laily Rahmawaty, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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