The Jakarta High Court today upheld Ferdy Sambo’s death penalty sentence, rejecting the former police general’s appeal against a lower court decision made in February.
Sambo was found guilty of premeditated murder of his aide Police Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat in one of the biggest criminal cases in Indonesian history.
“We uphold the sentence delivered by the South Jakarta District Court on Feb. 13,” Judge Singgih Budi Prakoso said during the hearing.
Sambo did not attend the appeal hearing. He now has one remaining chance to appeal his sentence with the Supreme Court.
Sambo was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Yosua on July 8, 2022 at the former’s home in Duren Tiga, South Jakarta.
The South Jakarta District Court previously concluded that Sambo ordered another one of his aides, Private Second Class Richard Eliezer, to shoot and kill Yosua. Sambo also fired a gun at Yosua.
Sambo then manipulated the crime scene to make it look like Richard and Yosua had a shootout, with the former being ordered to claim that he caught Yosua molesting the ex-general’s wife, Putri Chandrawati.
The court rejected the defense’s argument that Yosua had sexually assaulted Putri due to lack of evidence.
Sambo was central in a web of conspiracy to cover up Yosua’s murder. Among those, the court said, was his order for the removal of CCTV footage from around the crime scene.
The court did not establish a motive for Yosua’s murder, but said that the severity of the punishment for the crime needed only be determined by Sambo’s intent.
The South Jakarta District Court sentenced Putri to 20 years in prison, her chaffeur Kuat Ma’ruf to 15 years in prison, and a cop named Rizky Rizal to 13 years in prison for being accessories to Yosua’s premeditated murder. All three convicts are set to appeal.
Eliezer, meanwhile, received a surprisingly light 1.5-year sentence for murder, with the court arguing that he was under immense pressure to carry out orders from his boss and that he acted as a justice collaborator to aid investigators in untangling the web of conspiracies surrounding the case.
Eliezer did not file an appeal against his sentence.
