YouTuber Ferdian Paleka is hoping that the charges against him will be dropped, his attorney said, as he seeks to make amends with the transwomen he victimized in his infamous transphobic viral video.
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Rohman Hidayat, who represents Ferdian and his friends Tubagus and Aidil, said that his legal team is still mediating communication between the victims and the families of the suspects. They are taking the mediation route while waiting for the legal process of the three suspects to officially begin.
The families of the suspects have also met the representatives of the transwomen in the video to apologize in person, with hopes that the latter might withdraw their police reports.
“But if the plaintiffs still want to proceed with the case legally, [the suspects’ families] wouldn’t mind [their move],” Rohman said.
Aidil’s father, identified as Roni, accepted that what his son did was wrong, but appears to be holding on to hope that the plaintiffs would drop the charges against his son and his friends after the mediation process.
“I hope for the victims, we have a sincere intention to apologize from the bottom of our hearts, so that my son can be free again and that they want to forgive our sons. We, the parents, hope that there will be a kekeluargaan solution and are requesting for the complaint to be revoked,” Roni said.
Kekeluargaan, which roughly translates to “between family members,” is an Indonesian euphemism for amicably coming to an agreement not to press charges for a crime.
For his hugely viral and controversial transphobic video, Ferdian was charged with online defamation under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE), which carries a maximum four year prison sentence, as well as deliberately breaking the law and bringing harm to others, which is punishable by up to 12 years in prison under the same law.
The viral prank video, which made the rounds last week, shows Ferdian and his two accomplices preparing bricks and rotten bean sprouts inside instant noodle boxes before giving them away to unsuspecting transwomen. The men were visibly delighted after having pulled the prank, with Ferdian going some steps further to antagonize the public by uploading a fake apology video and then promising to upload a real apology video if he gained 30 thousand followers.
In the fake apology video, Ferdian laughed as he said, “I personally would like to apologize for what I’ve done … not.” Following his arrest, a policeman from the West Java Police posted a video on Instagram of someone mocking Ferdian, saying, “You will soon be freed … not.” However, that video has been taken down despite its copies going viral on various social media platforms.
