Roy Suryo's lawyer appeals against detention, compares case to Haris Azhar's

The legal team for Roy Suryo, a suspect in a defamation and character assassination case, is urging the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to act professionally and avoid detaining their client during the second stage of the case handover. Suryo is accused of defamation and damaging the reputation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo concerning the authenticity of his diploma.

Roy Suryo's lawyer, Ahmad Khozinudin, stated that detention is unnecessary if legal proceedings can continue without it, emphasizing that the Criminal Procedure Code allows for formal summons as an alternative to arrest or detention. He pointed to the case involving Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti, where legal proceedings advanced to trial without the suspects being detained, despite similar defamation charges.

Khozinudin expressed dissatisfaction with what he described as excessive measures during the police investigation phase. He specifically criticized the addition of charges related to electronic data manipulation under the Information and Electronic Transactions Law (ITE). The defense believes these additional charges are merely a tactic to justify Suryo's detention, arguing they are irrelevant to the core accusations of defamation and slander.