Jakarta. The Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday sentenced Meirizka Widjaja to three years in prison for bribing judges to secure the acquittal of her son, Ronald Tannur, in a controversial murder case.

In the same hearing, lawyer Lisa Rachmat was sentenced to 11 years in prison for her role in orchestrating and facilitating bribes to the judges.

In addition to the prison term, Meirizka was fined Rp 500 million (approximately $30,000) or face an additional six months’ imprisonment if the fine is not paid.

Presiding Judge Rosihan Juhriah Rangkuti said the court found Meirizka guilty of paying Rp 1 billion and 308,000 Singapore dollars to three judges at the Surabaya District Court, who later cleared Ronald of murder charges.

The bribes were meant to influence the outcome of her son's trial, in which Ronald was accused of killing his girlfriend, Dini Sera Afrianti, by deliberately ramming her with his car during a dispute in Surabaya in 2023.

Despite CCTV footage capturing the incident, the Surabaya court acquitted Ronald, arguing that Dini's death was primarily caused by alcohol and that Ronald had no intent to kill -- a decision that sparked widespread public outrage.

The ruling prompted prosecutors to investigate possible judicial corruption, leading to the arrest of the three Surabaya judges -- Erintuah Damanik, Mangapul, and Heru Hanindyo -- who handled the case. All three judges are now defendants in the same corruption probe.

Meirizka has accepted the court’s decision and stated she will not appeal the verdict.

The court found Lisa guilty of a key role in the bribery scandal.

When prosecutors appealed Ronald's acquittal to the Supreme Court, Lisa allegedly attempted to extend the bribery scheme to influence the justices reviewing the case. She had reportedly prepared Rp 5 billion in bribe money to ensure the acquittal would be upheld -- though the money was never delivered due to the arrests of the Surabaya judges and a former Supreme Court official involved in the scandal.

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