He said that the Attorney General's Office continues to make efforts to protect victims and enforce the law on the TIP case.
"We have a commitment to provide maximum protection to victims of TIP," Sumedana noted in his statement in Jakarta, Saturday.
He cited an example of one of the overseas cases handled by the Attorney Attaché at the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok that had succeeded in providing legal assistance to six Indonesian citizens.
The six Indonesian citizens are Eric Febrian, Raindy Wijaya, Hendriant Tritrahadi, Chelsy Alviana, Andrian, and Andrean Fraust, who were the victims of the TIP case and have been secured in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand, after being illegally transported from Tachilek, Myanmar.
"The six victims of TIP were detained because they were considered to have run away and did not attend trial on charges of 'illegal entry', spread of other infectious diseases, and violation of the COVID-19 protocol in July 2022," he stated.
He said after being accompanied by the Attorney Attaché in Bangkok that the prosecutions being terminated on grounds that they were victims of the TIP case was the first to have occurred in the history of termination of prosecutions in Thailand.
Sumedana explained that the Attorney General's Office continues to provide victim protection and law enforcement in the TIP case.
He urged the prosecutors to prioritize and take quick steps in handling the TIP case and protecting the victims.
"We have a commitment to provide maximum protection to victims of TIP," he affirmed.
Sumedana drew attention to several problems often faced by migrant workers, including issues with document completeness, excess placement fees, overstay, wages not being paid, abuse, rape, and even human trafficking and other criminal cases, with the majority affected being Indonesian women migrant workers.
Sumedana revealed that since February 2021, the Attorney General's Office had been working with the Indonesia International Organization for Migration (IOM) to build a platform for the TIP Case Data Integration System and website jampidum.kejaksaan.go.id that has been enabled.
"The website contains a prosecution case information system for all general criminal cases handled by all work units, such as the District Attorney's Office, District Attorney's Office, High Court, and Attorney General's Office," he remarked.
He explained that each stage of case handling was presented based on statistical data on the year of the case, type of crime, type of case, receipt of files, age of suspect/defendant, and criminal, among others.
He noted that specifically related to the handling of the TIP case, the case data integration system was developed, so that the public and all members of the TIP Prevention and Handling Task Force, including law enforcement officials throughout Indonesia, can track the progress in prosecution.
"This includes obtaining information on the type of punishment, profile of the perpetrator, sex, age of the victim, requests for restitution, and the developed modus operandi," he stated.
He explained that another form of the Attorney's commitment related to the protection of Indonesian migrant workers is by placing representatives of the Attorney General's Office abroad in several countries, such as Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sumedana assessed that overseas representatives have an active role in providing assistance and conducting outreach and advocacy on various legal issues for Indonesian migrant workers, including fighting for death penalty.
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Translator: Fath Putra Mulya, Cindy Frishanti Octavia
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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