3 Prabowo campaigners sentenced to 6 months for spreading hoaxes about Jokowi in viral video

Screenshot from viral video showing two of the women sentenced going door-to-door and spreading misinformation about President Jokowi.
Screenshot from viral video showing two of the women sentenced going door-to-door and spreading misinformation about President Jokowi.

Indonesia’s presidential election took place in April and was finally legally settled in June when the Constitutional Court rejected Prabowo Subianto’s election fraud lawsuit, cementing President Joko Widodo’s reelection win. But some people are still dealing with the legal fallout from campaign season, including three women who recorded and uploaded a viral video showing them spreading outrageous hoaxes about Jokowi in order to persuade others to vote for Prabowo.




Yesterday, a panel of judges at the Karawang District Court in West Java sentenced the three women, Citra Widaningsih (44), Engkay Sugiyanti (49), and Ika Feranika (45), to six months in prison for violating criminal statutes regarding the spread of misinformation. 

The sentence was less than the 8-months recommended by the prosecutor and much less than the 6-year maximum sentences they potentially faced. The lawyers for the defense said they were satisfied with the sentence and would not appeal.

In the viral video, which went viral in February, two women can be seen going door-to-door campaigning for Prabowo in a village. When they were speaking to the resident of one house, instead of promoting Prabowo’s programs, the women can be heard spreading the unsubstantiated idea that Muslims would face hardships under a Jokowi leadership.

https://youtu.be/fC9mi6BAJMM

Adzan (the call to prayer) from mosques will be forbidden, no one will be allowed to wear the hijab. Women can marry women, men can marry men,” the women said in Sundanese in the video.

Soon after the video went viral, police charged the women with disseminating false information and hate speech.

The three women were members of a pro-Prabowo volunteer group called Mothers Defend Prabowo-Sandi Party (PEPES), While the Prabowo campaign certified PEPES as one of their official volunteer groups, the group is said to have acted independently from the main campaign.



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