Indonesia commutes top cop’s death sentence for bodyguard’s murder to life in prison
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Ferdy Sambo, a two-star general and former head of internal affairs for the national police, was sentenced to death in February.
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JAKARTA – A senior police official sentenced to death for murdering his bodyguard
Ferdy Sambo, a two-star general and former head of internal affairs for the national police, was named as a suspect after his bodyguard was found dead at Sambo’s home in July 2022, in a killing that the police force was initially accused of covering up.
His months-long trial grabbed national headlines earlier in 2023 and shone a light on a pervading sense of police impunity in the archipelago nation.
Supreme Court spokesman Sobandi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said in a statement aired on broadcaster Metro TV that judges had decided to revise “the qualifications of the crime”.
Therefore, he added: “The penalty becomes life imprisonment.”
Sambo was sentenced to death in February by a state court, and appealed in April to a high court, which upheld the sentence.
Tuesday’s decision came after Sambo lodged an appeal in May to the country’s highest court.
His wife, Putri Candrawathi
Sambo was accused of ordering a subordinate to shoot Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, 27, and then firing a bullet into the wounded victim himself.
When Mr Hutabarat’s death came to light, the police initially said another member of the security detail had killed him, having caught him sexually assaulting Sambo’s wife.
Sambo and his wife were arrested only weeks later.
The police did not reveal the killing for days and also said that surveillance cameras were not working when Mr Hutabarat was shot.
The judge in the initial trial said closed-circuit television footage was deleted by a Sambo subordinate. AFP
