Indonesia stadium tragedy: Lawyers representing victims call for fresh charges against perpetrators

JAKARTA: Lawyers representing some of the victims of a deadly stadium stampede in Indonesia are calling for new charges against police officers deemed responsible for the death of 135 people in one of the world’s worst football disasters in history.

This comes days after an Indonesian district court acquitted two senior police officers while another officer was given an 18-month prison sentence for his involvement in the Oct 1, 2002 incident at Kanjuruhan Stadium in the city of Malang.

The Attorney General’s Office has vowed to appeal the not-guilty verdict. “For those acquitted, (the prosecutors) will appeal,” AGO spokesman Agung Ketut Sumedana told local media on Saturday (Mar 18). “For the lenient (verdict), we will study the legal considerations first.”

Mr Imam Hidayat, a lawyer representing some of the families of those who died, told CNA: “The case was riddled with inconsistencies from the start. Our only hope is to get law enforcers to lay new charges against those responsible.”

Against the wishes of some victims’ families, prosecutors decided to charge the defendants with negligence which resulted in fatalities.

“They should have been charged with murder or even premeditated murder because they were fully aware of the consequences of their actions,” Mr Hidayat said.

The lawyer said he is confident that the defendants can be charged with murder, which carries a much heftier sentence than the current charge of negligence. This, he said, would yield a different outcome.

The three officers were accused of instructing their subordinates to fire tear gas canisters during a football match between Arema Malang and Persebaya Surabaya. The