"We received a report about alleged acts of violence against Noviandi Kurniawan by Ahmad Dhani and his associates on Monday evening," Jakarta police spokesman Sr Com Baharudin Djafar said.
Speaking to newsmen here Tuesday, Baharudin said Noviandi Kurniawan had reported Ahmad Dhani and his five frends for having mandhandled him and damaging his TV camera to the police.
The incident took place when Noviandi and a Global TV reporter were doing a reporting assignment at Mulan Jameela`s house in the elite Pondok Indah housing complex in South Jakarta on Monday, he said.
Mulan Jameela, a noted singer belonging to Ahmad Dhani`s Republik Cinta musicians` group , had attracted the media`s attention because she had just given birth to a baby girl at a local hospital.
Ahmad Dhani and his men then attempted to prevent Noviandi and the Global TV reporter from doing their job at Mulan Jameela`s house, he said.
Dhani and his friends pulled Noviandi away by his shirt and damaged his TV camera, Baharudin said, adding that under the Criminal Code such violance was punishable with a maximum jail sentence of five years and six months.
If found guilty of hampering a journalist in doing his work, the suspects could also be charged based on Article 4 Point 3 of Law No 40/1999 on the Press.
The violators could be sentenced to two years in jail and ordered to pay a fine of Rp500 million, he said.
Indonesian journalists remain vulnerable to acts of physical violence despite the government`s strong support for press freedom.
The Indonesian Press Council (Dewan Pers) had recorded 25 cases of violence against journalists during 2010.
The violence occurred in the form of acts of intimidation, destruction of reporting equipment, vandalizing of media offices, acts of sabotage , confinement, physical maltreatment and murder, Agus Sudibyo, head of the Press Council`s unit for complaints and ethics enforcement, said.
(T.T014/Uu.R013/HAJM)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
