Four members of an Indonesian military intelligence unit were sentenced to prison on Wednesday after they were convicted in an acid attack on a rights advocate, but critics called the proceedings “a blatant whitewash.”
Human rights activists said the case should have been heard by civilian judges, not a military court, and criticized the length of the sentences, which ranged from 18 months to three years. All the defendants had faced a maximum of 12 years in prison in the March attack on the rights advocate, Andrie Yunus, an outspoken critic of the military.
“The verdict protects the institutional integrity of the military and shields the full chain of command and other actors potentially linked to this incident from scrutiny,” said the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid.
Mr. Usman called the trial “a blatant whitewash, which brings neither justice nor truth to Andrie Yunus.”
Mr. Andrie, 27, is deputy coordinator of the prominent rights group Kontras. One attacker threw acid in his face as he rode his motorbike in Jakarta, the capital, burning 24 percent of his body and damaging his right eye.
Mr. Andrie, who remains hospitalized and has undergone numerous surgeries in an attempt to save his eye, objected to the case being taken over in April by military prosecutors and moved to a military court. He had refused to testify.
Rights activists have said that evidence showed that at least 16 people were involved in the attack, not just the four put on trial.
Military prosecutors contended that the four men — three officers and a sergeant — had acted on their own, not under orders from a superior.
For many Indonesians, the case has been a reminder of the 32-year military dictatorship under President Suharto, who stepped down amid widespread protests in 1998. Activists contend that the military’s influence is growing again under the current president, Prabowo Subianto, Suharto’s former son-in-law and once a widely feared general.
The chief of the three-judge panel, Col. Fredy Ferdian Isnartanto, said the court had found the four defendants guilty of participating in an assault that resulted in serious injuries with previous planning.
All four defendants admitted their role in the attack, telling the judges that they came up with the idea themselves.
“It was influenced by a momentary emotional outburst, feeling offended, and psychological pressure after witnessing various media broadcasts,” their lawyer, Andi Asfar Baharuddin, told the court.
One defendant, Sgt. Edi Sudarko, told the court that he had been offended by Mr. Andrie’s criticism of the military, particularly after he entered a closed parliamentary meeting last year to protest legislation giving the military greater power.
Sergeant Edi was disturbed by a video capturing the scene of the protest and came up with the idea of attacking Mr. Andrie, the court found.
A second defendant, Lt. First Class Budhi Hariyanto Widhi Cahyono, proposed throwing acid at Mr. Andrie and prepared the acid mixture, the court heard.
The pair carried out the attack, with Lieutenant Budhi driving the motorbike and Sergeant Edi throwing the acid at Mr. Andrie as he passed by, the court found. The attack went awry when some of the acid also spilled on them, the defendants told the court. Sergeant Edi said he had been splashed on his face, neck, hands and body.
The court sentenced Sergeant Edi to three years in prison and Lieutenant Budhi to 30 months. Both were dismissed from the armed forces.
The court found that the two other defendants, Capt. Nandala Dwi Prasetya and Lt. Sami Lakka, helped locate Mr. Andrie. As the highest-ranking officer of the group, the court said, Captain Nandala should have been able to prevent the attack but instead took part in planning it.
Captain Nandala was sentenced to two years and Lieutenant Sami to 18 months, but neither was kicked out of the service.
Jane Rosalina Rumpia, a lawyer on the team representing Mr. Andrie, called the sentences lenient and disproportionate to the defendants’ actions.
“What we see is a complete lack of accountability in this case, no revelation of the truth, let alone justice,” she said. “This is the face of impunity once again on display through the military judicial process.”
All four defendants were members of the military’s main intelligence arm, the Strategic Intelligence Agency. After the attack, the general who headed the agency resigned. He is not known to be facing any charges.
Supporters of Mr. Andrie have said that the plot to attack him was an intelligence operation and that the defendants should have faced a charge of premeditated murder.
