By Banjir Ambarita on 05:41 pm Oct 24, 2014
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/french-journalists-papua-sentenced-2-5-months-jail/
Thomas Dandois (left) and Valentine Bourrat (right) at the Jayapura District Court on Thursday. (AFP Photo/Indrayadi)
Jayapura, Papua. The Jayapura District Court on Friday sentenced two French journalists held in Papua for violating their visa terms to two months and fifteen days in prison.
Presiding judge Martinus Bala said the two journalists, Thomas Charles Dandois and Marie Valentine Bourrat, who work for Arte TV, had been proven guilty of violating Indonesia’s immigration law.
Apart from the jail sentence, each of them has to pay a Rp 2 million ($165) fine.
“The two defendants, Marie Valentine and Thomas Charles are proven to be guilty of committing a crime, by carrying out activities that were not in line with the terms of the visa given to both of them by the Indonesian government,” Martinus said. “Therefore, both are sentenced to two months and fifteen days in jail and a Rp 2 million fine, which if not paid, will be replaced with an additional jail sentence of one month.”
Martinus mentioned several mitigating factors: that the two had admitted making a mistake and apologized, and that they were polite during court hearings. An aggravating factor the judge mentioned was that the two may have intended to spread negative news about Indonesia.
‘Criminalization of the press’
The lawyer of the two journalists, Aristo Pangaribuan, regretted the ruling.
“The verdict of the judges is a form of criminalization of press workers,” Aristo said.
He added that the two had not even been carrying out journalistic activities, but only did research when they were detained along members of a separatist group.
The French nationals, who have been detained since August, will be released next week.