A minister has called upon law enforcers to appeal against light sentences brought against four alleged orangutan killers last week.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said Sunday that according to the law, suspected orangutan killers could be sentenced up to five years.
However, the Tenggarong District Court in Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan sentenced the four PT Khaleda Agroprima Malindo employees with eight-month term of imprisonment and a fine ranging from Rp20 million to Rp30 million instead.
The four employees have been charged with capturing and killing orangutans at an oil-palm plantation in Kutai Kertanegara regency.
“I think the eight-month prison term that has been sentenced for each defendant was simply too light. We will ask the prosecutors to appeal the ruling,” the minister said as quoted by kompas.com.
The court convicted the four employees of PT Khaleda, which is a branch of the Malaysia-based Metro Kajang Holdings Bhd, on Wednesday last week.
The court sentenced both Khaleda’s senior manager Phuah Chuan and head division Widiantoro to eight-month imprisonment and a Rp30 million fine. Meanwhile, two lower-rank employees Imam and Mujianto were sentenced to eight-month imprisonment and a Rp20 million fine.
The sentence was more lenient than the one year of imprisonment demanded by the prosecutors.
Earlier this month, activists from the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) had urged the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to investigate the “light charges”.
They claimed that the defendants should be sentenced up to five years in jail with a Rp100 million fine based on the 1990 Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystems Law. (asa/ued)
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