Anger As Indonesia Court Acquits Two Police Over Stadium Crush

Surabaya, Indonesia, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Mar, 2023 ) :An Indonesian court on Thursday acquitted two senior police officers charged with negligence over a stadium crowd crush last year that killed 135 people, angering relatives of those who died in one of football's worst tragedies.

Another officer was jailed for 18 months but families of the victims said he had been treated too leniently.

Police had been blamed for triggering the deadly October 1 stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang by firing tear gas after supporters invaded the pitch following a 3-2 defeat for Arema FC by their fierce East Javan rivals Persebaya Surabaya.

Several relatives of 135 victims, who included 40 children, broke into tears when the judge read the verdicts on the last day of the trial, with one lawyer saying there had been "no justice" for the families.

Malang police officer Bambang Sidik Achmadi, who was accused of ordering his subordinates to fire tear gas, was found not guilty by the court in Surabaya, the capital of East Java.

Presiding judge Abu Achmad Sidqi Amsya said the charges had "not been proven", and the defendant was free to go.

Fellow Malang police officer Wahyu Setyo Pranoto was also found not guilty.

Prosecutors had initially claimed Pranoto ignored FIFA's regulation prohibiting the use of tear gas at a football match.

One officer, a commander for East Java police's mobile brigade unit, was jailed for 18 months.

Hasdarmawan, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, had previously denied ordering his subordinates to fire tear gas towards the supporters.

"The defendant failed to predict a situation that was actually quite easy to anticipate. There was an option not to fire (the tear gas) to respond to the supporters' violence," judge Amsya said as he handed down the sentence.

Wearing a white shirt and a face mask, the officer listened quietly as the judge delivered the sentence, which was shorter than the three years prosecutors had asked for. He has seven days to file an appeal.