Two TNI Intelligence Officers Retain Military Status After Acid-Attack Appeal
Kabarsaji.com – The Jakarta High Military Court II-06 has overturned the dismissal orders handed to two Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) personnel convicted of splashing acid on activist Andrie Yunus. The appellate panel, sitting under case number 56-K/PMT-II/BDG/AL/VI/2026, issued its ruling on August 20, 2026, formally accepting the appeal lodged by all four defendants from the TNI Intelligence Body. The decision, accessible through the court’s Case Tracking System (SIPP) as of Friday, September 4, 2026, marks a significant shift in how the military judiciary treats ancillary penalties in cases involving state agents.
“Formally accepting the appeal filed by the Defendants,” the panel of judges stated in their ruling.
The Original Conviction
The four officers — Sergeant Edi Sudarko, First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi, Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetyo, and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka — were found guilty on June 10, 2026, under the original verdict numbered 70-K/PM II-08/AL/IV/2026. The court held them liable for violating Article 467 paragraph (1) juncto paragraph (2) of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the Military Criminal Code, read together with Article 20 letter c of the KUHPM as the subsidiary charge. The acid-throwing incident against Andrie Yunus had drawn sustained public attention, with victims’ advocates pressing for maximum accountability from the military justice system.
Under the initial sentencing, Edi Sudarko received three years of imprisonment plus dismissal from service, while Budhi Hariyanto Widhi was given two years and six months of imprisonment plus dismissal. Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetyo drew a two-year prison term, and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka received one year and six months. The additional punishment of dismissal, codified in Article 26 of the Military Criminal Code, effectively ended the two officers’ careers in uniform.
What the Appeal Changed
The appellate panel altered the sentences for only the first and second defendants. The ruling explicitly stated: “Altering the Verdict of Jakarta High Military Court II-06 Number 70-K/PM II-08/AL/IV/2026 dated June 10, 2026, for Defendants 1 and 2 only regarding their sentences.”
Edi Sudarko’s combined penalty was cut to two years and six months of imprisonment without dismissal. Budhi Hariyanto Widhi’s sentence was trimmed to two years of imprisonment, also stripped of the dismissal component. In practical terms, both officers will remain on the TNI rolls after serving their reduced terms, a distinction that had not existed under the original judgment.
For the third and fourth defendants, the panel upheld the June 10 verdict in full. Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetyo’s two-year term and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka’s eighteen-month term stand unchanged, with no dismissal attached to either.
The four officers filed their appeal on the very day the original verdict was read. Endah Wulandari, spokesperson for Jakarta High Military Court II-06, confirmed the filing when reached on Saturday, June 20, 2026.
“Announcing the appeal since the court’s verdict,” Wulandari said.
Victims’ Advocacy Pushes Back
The Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), which represents Andrie Yunus in the civil and criminal proceedings, issued a sharp critique of the appellate outcome. In a statement posted on the kontras.org website, TAUD argued that the ruling leaves a troubling ambiguity: while the primary prison sentences were modified, the text does not explicitly state whether the ancillary dismissal penalty has been vacated or merely rendered inapplicable through the sentence reduction.
“This ambiguity understandably raises the impression that the dismissal of the defendants Edi Sudarko and Budhi Hariyanto Widhi has been annulled,” TAUD wrote.
The organization further contended that the High Military Court continues to rely on procedural regulations inherited from the New Order era, a framework that, in TAUD’s assessment, fails to center the experience of victims. The court’s decision, they argued, shows little regard for the physical and psychological losses endured by Andrie Yunus.
“The alteration of Jakarta High Military Court II-08’s ruling by Jakarta High Military Court II actually shows a more favorable construction of punishment for the defendants,” the statement read.
Structural Questions Over Military Justice
TAUD also raised concerns about judicial competence within the high military courts. Their position is that when state actors — particularly officials with intelligence backgrounds and operational authority — are perpetrators, sentencing must account for the weight of their positions and the degree of discretion they wield. A uniform application of statutory minimums, they argued, ignores the asymmetry of power inherent in cases where the accused act under state sanction.
“This issue cannot be separated from the structural problem of the military justice system that is not compatible with modern criminal justice systems,” TAUD noted.
The annulment of dismissal for two of the four officers underscores a recurring tension in Indonesian military jurisprudence: whether the uniformed status of a convicted officer should be preserved even when the offense involves deliberate violence against a civilian. For Andrie Yunus and his supporters, the question is not merely procedural but moral — whether the system that employs the accused is also the system that should determine the full measure of their accountability.
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