Polda Metro asks judge to reject Delpedro's preliminary hearing in sedition case

Jakarta – The Polda Metro Jaya legal team asked the judge to reject the preliminary hearing proposed by Lokataru Foundation Executive Director Delpedro Marhaen in the case of alleged incitement to a protest that ended in chaos. Polda Metro said the identification of the suspect was in accordance with the rules. “That the respondent has emphatically stated that His Honor, the single pre-trial judge, will reject the applicant’s pre-trial request in its entirety,” said member of Bidkum Polda Metro Jaya, AKBP Iverson Manossoh, when he gave his answer to Delpedro’s pre-trial at the South Jakarta District Court, Monday (20/10/2025). Iver said the identification of the suspect Delpedro met the requirements of at least two valid pieces of evidence. He said the arrest of the suspect was legal according to law. Page to continue with content “That the determination of the Petitioner as a suspect based on the decree regarding the determination of the suspect number STap/S-4/1539/VIII/2025/Ditreskrimum Polda Metro Jaya dated 30 August 2025 is valid according to law,” he said the determination of the legal force is valid. He said that his party has a duty to act to maintain the security, order and stability of the country. He said national police officers have the discretion to take legal action. “That the Respondent has taken measurable and accountable actions in accordance with Article 18 paragraph 1 of Act No. 2 of 2002 of the National Police Act which states that in the public interest, Indonesian National Police officers can act according to their own judgment. In this case, National Police officers have the discretion to take legal action to maintain security and state stability,” he said to maintain security and state stability. He said this discretion was exercised in the alleged sedition case with suspect Delpedro where there was concern that evidence would be lost. He said examining someone as a witness before establishing a suspect is not absolute. “That based on fixed procedure number 1 of 2010 or Protap on dealing with acts of anarchy, in this Protap the police are allowed to take discretionary steps to defend themselves or their families against imminent threats or serious injury, to prevent criminals from escaping, therefore the Respondent made an arrest,” he said. Apart from that, the Polda Metro legal team also said that a number of underage students participated in a protest that ended in chaos at the end of August 2025 after they saw a post on the Lokataru Foundation’s Instagram account. Polda Metro said there were students carrying sharp weapons during the protest. The Regional Police legal team said the five students staged a protest after seeing content on social media calling for protests. The five students are IAH, CDF, AF, ARA and MR. “From the results of data collection and the gathering of information from the five students, information was obtained that they participated in an anarchist demonstration at the DPR/MPR building after seeing content containing calls for demonstrations uploaded on social media,” said the Polda Metro Jaya legal team. Polda Metro said it monitors social media and cyber patrols to find accounts that have posted calls for demonstrations to students and/or minors. The result, Polda Metro said, was that there were nine social media accounts. “One of the accounts of the nine Instagram accounts is known as the Lokataru Foundation. Subsequently, the Respondent took a screenshot of the account,” he said. Polda Metro said that monitoring and data collection was again carried out on two other detained students, namely BSJL and FA. They were arrested for carrying sharp weapons while participating in the protest. “Then from the report on the implementation of this task, information was obtained that the students were moved to participate in the demonstration after seeing content containing calls for demonstrations uploaded by the Blok Politik and Lokatar Foundation accounts on the Instagram platform,” he said. The Polda Metro legal team said that their party then filed a case on August 28, 2025. He said that the outcome of the case concluded that a model A police report was made on the alleged criminal act of sedition. “Then we came to the conclusion, based on the investigator’s submission, that this information report could be made into a model A police report,” he said. Previously, the first hearing of Delpedro’s pre-trial application was held at the South Jakarta District Court, Friday (17/10). Delpedro’s application is registered with case number 132/Pid.Pra/2025/PN JKT.SEL. Delpedro’s lawyer said Delpedro’s warrant of investigation (Sprindik) was issued on August 29, 2025, then he was named a suspect on August 30, 2025. He said Delpedro was arrested one day after he was named as a suspect. “Just one day later, on September 1, 2025 at around 10:00 p.m., Petitioner Delpedro Marhaen was arrested by the Respondent from Polda Metro Jaya at the Lokataru Foundation office,” Delpedro Marhaen’s lawyer said when he read the petitum of the pre-trial petition. He said the warrant for Delpedro’s detention was issued on September 2, 2025. He said Delpedro carried out his duties as Executive Director of Lokataru to ensure that the state respects, protects and fulfills the human rights (HAM) of every citizen, also during the demonstration context on August 25-29, 2025. the general public behave as they should,” he said. He said that during the demonstration period, Delpedro only performed duties in the form of field monitoring to obtain data on the number demonstration participants who were arrested and opened a complaint mail for protesting students. He said Delpedro had never been questioned as a potential suspect. “That the Applicant only found out on September 1, 2025 that he was named as a suspect at the time of his arrest on September 1, 2025,” he said. Delpedro asked the judge to invalidate his suspicious finding. He also has the judge asked to order Polda Metro Jaya to release him from detention center immediately. (mib/haf)