Jakarta – The Jakarta II-08 Military Tribunal has handed down prison sentences and dismissed two TNI (Indonesian military) sergeants in separate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) cases.
The two soldiers, namely First Sergeant H and Sergeant Second Class W, were involved in two different cases. With regard to H, he was proven to have committed sexually deviant acts with other soldiers on more than one occasion.
"[We] declare that the defendant cited above has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing a deliberate crime of disobedience. The defendant is judged guilty and because of this sentenced to a basic punishment of six months in prison. The additional punishment is dismissal from military service", said the judges in reading out the ruling against First Sergeant H on Monday September 12.
Sitting as presiding judge in the hearing was Major Subiyanto and panel members Major Laut M Zainal Abidin and Mayor Ferry Budi Styanti.
In the indictment it is said H committed sexually deviant acts on several occasions. He was cited to have committed same-sex sexually deviant acts with witness 2 and witness 3.
"That the sexual deviations committed by the defendant with witness 3 occurred when they were still a civilian on around five occasions and when witness 3 had already been inaugurated as a TNI [member] more than three times", read the verdict.
According to the Panel of Judges, based on the TNI commander's Telegram Number ST/398/2009 dated July 22, 2009, TNI commander's Telegram Number ST/1648/2019 dated 22 October, 2019 and Navy Chief of Staff Telegram Number ST/34/2021 dated January 14, 2021, there is a prohibition on TNI soldiers committing immoral acts with the same sex (homosexual/lesbian).
"That it is true that the telegrams contain orders for all soldiers and the order has been repeatedly conveyed by the leadership during the socialisation on the prohibition for TNI soldiers to commit immoral acts with the same sex (homosexual/lesbian) and the defendant participated in the socialisation," read the verdict.
A similar verdict was handed down against Sergeant Second Class W. In this case, sitting as presiding judge was Lieutenant Colonel Rizki Gunturinda and panel members Major Sunti Suntari and Captain Nurdin Ruka.
"The defendant is judged guilty and because of this is sentenced to a basic punishment of six months in prison. The additional sentence is to be dismissed from military service", read the verdict.
In the indictment, W was cited as committing the acts in September at the Kwitang regional offices. At the time, W asked one of the witnesses to perform mutual masturbation. The witness initially refused the request. But because they felt threatened, the witness then submitted to the defendants wishes.
"That the defendant admitted that he was interested in or motivated to have a relationship with the same sex (male) and when having oral sex or mutual masturbation he felt satisfaction when doing so and was giving reign to desires of sexual lust", read the verdict. (yoa/bmw)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "2 Sersan TNI Dipenjara dan Dipecat karena Kasus LGBT".]
