Jakarta. Political activist Eggi Sudjana was arrested for treason while being interrogated by the Jakarta Police on Tuesday morning.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) politician, who is a member of the campaign team of presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno, was named a treason suspect on May 8 over comments he made to the camp's supporters outside the former Army general's home in South Jakarta on election day.

"I heard just now, God willing, that after 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. it will be officially announced whether it is true that there had been serious fraud [in the election]. Therefore, according to the analysis by one of our leaders, professor doctor Amien Rais, we must launch people power. Agree? Are you brave enough [to do it]? If we engage in people power, we no longer need to follow [legal] steps because it will be the people exercising their sovereignty! Maybe this is God's way of speeding up Prabowo's inauguration. There is no need to wait until Oct. 20 [when the president will be inaugurated]," Eggi reportedly said at the time.

While being questioned at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Tuesday morning, Eggi was handed an arrest warrant, which prohibits him from leaving the premises for the next 24 hours.

"Eggi Sudjana's arrest is very strange. He has not been allowed to go home after the police issued his arrest warrant. He was arrested at 5.30 a.m. on an allegation of treason. Eggi has never been afraid; he never flinches. His message to me was to continue speaking out for justice, the truth; to keep on going and to fight injustice," his lawyer, Pitra Romadoni, said.

Pitra said it was odd that his client was arrested despite having been cooperative in the investigation.

"It is very strange, because he was arrested inside the interrogation room. Arrests are usually made outside the interrogation room. Nobody was planning to flee. He was being cooperative and never avoided investigators' questions," he said. "We are very disappointed with the Jakarta Police."

The lawyer said Eggi's arrest sets a bad precedent for law enforcement.

"Proper application of the law was not considered. We were always cooperative by respecting the efforts of investigators," Pitra said, adding that the arrest was politically motivated and had nothing to do with the law.

"When speaking from a legal perspective, we refer to articles of the law. The articles [cited in his arrest] have changed from those he was reported to have violated. But this is political; my client feels he has been treated unfairly and criminalized," he said.

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