Jakarta. An assistant for the family of disgraced police general Ferdy Sambo responded with outrage after a Jakarta court on Tuesday sentenced him to 15 years in prison for participation in the murder of officer Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat on the order of the employer.

Kuat Ma’ruf was found guilty of a role in the July 8, 2022 murder as he knew the plot in advance and witnessed in person when Yosua was shot multiple times inside Ferdy’s official residence in South Jakarta.

“The defendant doesn’t admit wrongdoing while portraying himself as the innocent party of the crime,” according to the verdict by the three-member panel read out at the South Jakarta District Court.

"We pronounce that defendant Kuat Ma'ruf has been convincingly proven guilty of participating in the premeditated murder."

Prosecutors have demanded a prison sentence of only eight years for Kuat, but the panel of judges considered his remorseless attitudes and lack of manner during court proceedings as the aggravating factors for the lengthy jail term.

Kuat shook his head when Presiding Judge Wahyu Iman Santoso delivered the verdict.

“I will appeal,” he said. “I will appeal because I didn’t kill anybody and I didn’t plan for it.”

As he left the courtroom, Kuat showed his three fingers in a heavy metal sign to prosecutors.

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The panel said that Kuat knew the plot to murder Yosua and he even prepared a knife in case things went wrong.

Kuat closed all the doors including the one on the balcony to prevent Yosua from fleeing when the victim was confronted by Ferdy inside the house, Judge Morgan Simanjuntak told the court.

Yosua was shot at close range by fellow officer Richard Eliezer before Ferdy also fired his gun at the victim, the court heard. Kuat and Brigadier Ricky Rizal were present at the scene when Yosua was murdered.

Kuat is the third defendant to be convicted in the saga after the same court surprisingly delivered the death sentence to Ferdy and sentenced his wife Putri Candrawathi to 20 years in prison a day earlier.

Ferdy accused the victim of having harassed his wife at his official residence in Jakarta but as the trial proceeded the couple changed the story by accusing Yosua of having raped Putri in Magelang, Central Java.

The panel of judges said the defendants couldn’t establish evidence to prove the rape claim.

Ricky and Richard are still awaiting their verdicts.