LAMANRIAU.COM, PEKANBARU – The Panel of Judges of the Pekanbaru District Court handed down a free verdict against a farmer named Syafrudin from Rumbai, who was charged with burning land near his residence.
The free sentencing was read out at the Pekanbaru District Court, Riau on Tuesday. “Yes (acquitted),” said Pekanbaru Legal Aid Director Aditya Bagus Santoso, when contacted on Tuesday, February 4, 2020.
Adit said that a number of judges’ considerations to release Syafrudin were about local wisdom. In addition, the prosecutor is deemed unable to prove expert statements.
Previously, the public prosecutor demanded that Syafrudin be sentenced to 4 years in prison and a fine of Rp 3 billion in subsidy for 6 months in prison for burning the land. This 69-year-old man is accused of burning down land that he manages with an area of only 20×20 meters.
The Pekanbaru Legal Aid Institute which accompanied Syafrudin in the court considered this claim unfair because the legal apparatus only processed small farmers like Syafrudin.
Meanwhile, in the 2015 big fire, Riau Police issued a Termination Letter of Investigation to 15 corporations that were suspected of being involved in forest and land fires.
“Law enforcement should be more serious in handling forest and land fires by corporations on a broader scale,” said Adit.
Adit said Syafrudin was just a small farmer who had managed other people’s land since 1993 to support his wife and 6 children, two of whom were disabled.
On Saturday, March 16, 2019, at 11:40, Syafrudin cleared the land by burning the crops of corn, long beans, sweet potatoes and bananas.
The man born in Ombilin, West Sumatra, is said to have made a firebreak so the fire did not spread to other lands. That afternoon when the fire was almost extinguished, Syafrudin left him for the midday prayer.
Upon returning there, it turned out that there were already two members of the Rumbai Police Sector. In the afternoon, Syafrudin was taken to the Rumbai Police Station which then delegated the case to the Pekanbaru Police.
It only took a day for the police to issue Syafrudin’s arrest warrant. The case was later put on trial since October 24, 2019.
He was sentenced to 4 years in prison in a trial on January 14, 2020. According to the prosecutor, Shafifrudin’s farmers were proven to have violated Article 98 Number 32 of 2009 concerning Environmental Protection and Management. (tmc)
