Jakarta. The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence handed earlier to former police general Ferdy Sambo to a life sentence for murdering a subordinate, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The panel of Supreme Court justices voted to commute the sentence 3:2 although they all agreed to uphold the premeditated murder conviction.

“Two judges have presented dissenting opinions,” Supreme Court spokesman Sobandi told reporters at his office in Jakarta.

The panel comprises presiding judge Suhadi and four members including Suharto, Jupriyadi, Desnayeti, and Yohanes Priyana. Jupriyadi and Desnayeti are the two justices with the dissenting opinion, the spokesman said.

Three other defendants in the murder case also had their prison sentences reduced by the Supreme Court. It halved the prison sentence of Ferdy’s wife Putri Candrawathi from originally 20 years.

The prison sentence of former police officer Ricky Rizal was reduced from 13 years to eight while Ferdy’s personal assistant Kuat Ma’ruf also got his sentence cut by five years to 10.

Both men were convicted of becoming complicit in the murder.

The convicted shooter, Richard Eliezer, was sentenced to only 18 months by the district court after he pleaded guilty and agreed to become a whistleblower during the trials against other defendants. Richard didn’t appeal his sentence.

Ferdy was an inspector general with the National Police when he plotted and ordered the July 8, 2022 murder of his own subordinate Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, who Ferdy accused of sexually attacking his wife that became a motive for the murder, according to court documents.

The unarmed victim was shot multiple times at close range inside Ferdy’s official residence in South Jakarta. In addition to premeditated murder, Ferdy was also found guilty of obstruction of justice.

He was sentenced to death on February 13 by the South Jakarta District Court, with the judge saying there was no evidence to support his claim that Yosua had committed sexual violence against his wife. Two months later, the Jakarta High Court upheld the death sentence for Ferdy.

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