‘There is no causal relationship between the defendant’s actions and the victim’ – Police ruins families of Indonesia football crush

Two cops accused of being involved in the Kanjuruhan Stadium crush last year were cleared by an Indonesian court, which outraged the families of those killed in the tragedy. After using tear gas on crowds on the field that evening, police were held responsible for starting the crush.

This resulted in the second-deadliest football disaster in history, a panic that claimed 135 lives. Following the judgment on Thursday, devastated relatives in the courtroom screamed in rage and shock. “Many people have died, how come they are now free,” said a women woman whose teenage son was killed during the incident.

Throughout the court hearing, Susiani had been holding a photo of her son, who is 16 years old. After the verdict was announced, she had a broken appearance. The court found two other senior policemen not guilty on the same charges, but it sentenced one officer to 18 months in prison for criminal negligence.

There was an option not to fire [the tear gas] to respond to the supporters’ violence: Amsya

A commander, Bambang Sidik Ahmadi was charged with giving the order for his police unit to fire tear gas upon spectators of the match. However, the local court in East Java determined that such charges “had not been proven”. Wahyu Setyo Pranoto, the police commissioner, was also found not guilty.

“There is no causal relationship between the defendant’s actions and the victim. The negligence element is also not proven. So the defendant should be declared not guilty,” said chief judge Abu Achmad Sidqi Amsya. Human rights advocates have questioned the legal process and criticized the verdict. The trial has drawn criticism from the victims’ families ever since it began in January behind closed doors.

It is “logical to assume that the panel of judges is acting unfairly in the judicial process of this case,” according to Mr Irfan, Chairman of the local rights organization Kontras. He asked the prosecution to file an appeal. The police officer who was found guilty, Hasdarmawan, received a sentence of 18 months, which is only half of what the prosecution had requested.

The chief justice asserted that he failed to “predict a situation that was actually quite easy to anticipate”. “There was an option not to fire [the tear gas] to respond to the supporters’ violence,” judge Amsya said.