By: Firza Husein ) *
Rizieq Shihab has undergone a crowd case hearing on March 16, 2021. The community supports the judicial process, even though it is held virtually. The reason is because it is still a pandemic period, so when the trial is as usual, it is feared that it will cause a crowd and they cannot keep their distance.
Rizieq Shihab became a suspect in the crowd case in Petamburan, for violating Article 160 of the Criminal Code concerning incitement and Article 216 concerning obstructing the provisions of the Law, so he had to stay in prison for 6 years. Moreover, his pretrial lawsuit was rejected by the judge. So that inevitably he must be punished in jail.
On March 16, 2021, the first trial of Rizieq’s swab test results was allegedly falsified, with the agenda of reading the indictment of the public prosecutor. Rizieq Shihab was not presented before a judge at the East Jakarta District Court and he underwent a virtual trial. However, prosecutors and public prosecutors can still come to court.
Everyone should respect the panel of judges, but Rizieq Shihab’s team of attorneys acted disrespectfully. They shouted and demanded that Rizieq be brought to court. Munarman, a member of Rizieq’s legal team finally walked out because he was disappointed with this virtual trial. he admitted leaving because the lawyer had also left.
The behavior of Munarman who walked out with emotion certainly became the public’s ridicule. As a member of the legal team, he should maintain ethics in front of the crowd. However, instead he acted childishly by showing his anger and left the trial.
Meanwhile, Rizieq himself also protested because he wanted to be presented to court and walked out as well . According to him, a request not to hold an online trial had been filed by the legal team. In addition, he also asked for justice. However, the panel of judges did not feel they had accepted the letter and Rizieq’s reasons, so they continued to carry out the trial virtually.
R Izieq’s reasons that he is afraid of sabotage or an unstable internet network during the virtual trial are highly contrived. How could there be such sabotage? If there is fraud, then someone can be thrown into jail without being processed in court . In fact, when there was a trial, Rizieq’s rights as a citizen in a state of law were being exercised.
The trial via gadget was conducted because it avoided the crowd, because it was feared that Rizieq’s supporters would come to see it. Because during a pandemic, it would be risky if the masses would invade the courts and were feared that they would form a new corona cluster. So that as many as 600 officers were deployed to secure the trial and guard against mass rage.
Do not let there be a new corona cluster from the masses of Rizieq supporters when he is presented in front of the judge. Because they came in groups and couldn’t keep their distance, even though they were wearing masks. Moreover, more and more OTGs are roaming around and we don’t know which of the masses turned out to be corona positive. Rizieq’s supporters are expected to be wise and must remember that it is still a pandemic.
Moreover, Rizieq is a suspect in the crowd case. So don’t let a new crowd form and cause a spike in corona cases. This is not very funny, because there are covid patients because they support a suspect who contracted 80 people with Covid.
The community fully supports Rizieq Shihab’s judicial process because he is indeed guilty and violates several articles. The virtual trial remains valid in the eyes of the law, because during a pandemic, don’t let a crowd form and cause a new corona cluster. Rizieq, Munarman, and the legal team should have understood this and should not have walked out carelessly.
) * The author is a citizen living in Bogor
