Jakarta. The Supreme Court released on Monday the legal reasoning that led to the commutation of the death sentence for disgraced police general Ferdy Sambo to life imprisonment.

Ferdy was found guilty of masterminding the murder of a former subordinate, Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, and was initially sentenced to death by the South Jakarta District Court on February 13. The High Jakarta Court later upheld this sentence.

However, the Supreme Court recently spared his life and converted the sentence to life imprisonment.

The legal argument released by the Supreme Court emphasizes that Ferdy, having served as a police officer for 30 years, had contributed to maintaining public order, safety, and law enforcement.

The argument states that he "firmly admitted wrongdoings and expressed readiness to take responsibility for his actions, aligned with the purpose of criminal law punishment, namely to bring remorse to the convict."

The panel responsible for the case, led by Justice Suhadi and including members Justice Suharto, Justice Jupriyadi, Justice Desnayeti, and Justice Yohanes Priyana, published the argument on the Supreme Court's official website.

Justices Jupriyadi and Desnayeti expressed a dissenting opinion, opting to uphold the death sentence, but the majority decision commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

The same panel also reduced the prison sentences of three other defendants in the case. The prison term of Ferdy's wife, Putri Candrawathi, was halved from its original 20 years. The sentences of former police officer Ricky Rizal and Ferdy's personal assistant Kuat Ma’ruf were also reduced.

The convicted shooter, Richard Eliezer, received a relatively short sentence of 18 months from the district court after pleading guilty and cooperating as a whistleblower during the trials against other defendants. He did not appeal his sentence.

Ferdy, who held the rank of inspector general with the National Police, was convicted of orchestrating and ordering the murder of Yosua on July 8, 2022. The motive for the murder was allegedly Yosua's supposed sexual assault of Ferdy's wife. Yosua was shot multiple times at close range inside Ferdy's official residence in South Jakarta. Ferdy was also found guilty of obstruction of justice.

The court ruled that Freddy had failed to provide evidence supporting his claim that his wife suffered sexual harassment from Yosua. 

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