In Indonesian sex assault cases, there is a push for heavier punishments

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Parents in Indonesia have been alarmed by a series of incidences involving young girls and boys attending religiously affiliated schools.

Every parent's worst nightmare has come true.

The guy accused of sexually assaulting their children was sentenced to ten years in prison by the District Court in Medan, Indonesia, in front of six heartbroken families.

 

"Our children," one mother exclaimed as she sank in her chair, raising fears that she had passed out.

Benyamin Sitepu, a 37-year-old Christian priest and principal of Medan's Galilea Hosana School, was sentenced to five years less than the maximum 15-year sentence sought by the prosecution.

 

Because Sitepu had apologised for his actions and had previously signed a settlement deal with two of the victims' families, the presiding judge stated he awarded him a lighter punishment.

The prosecution and Sitepu have both filed appeals against the sentence.

Andreas Harsono, a researcher at Human Rights Watch Indonesia, told Al Jazeera that the sentence was too light, especially given Sitepu's age and Indonesia's remission system, which requires most inmates to complete around two-thirds of their sentences.

If Sitepu is granted remission, he might serve only seven years in prison and be out well before he turns 50.

 

"If he receives remission, he will still be a threat to children when he is freed," Harsono said, adding that the short prison sentence would just add to the victims' trauma.

The families were disappointed that Sitepu did not receive the maximum sentence possible, according to Ranto Sibarani, a human rights lawyer in Medan who represented them. He also called for religious organisations to take more responsibility for crimes that occur in the institutions in which they operate.

 

"If people commit crimes under the flag of the church, for example," Sibarani told Al Jazeera, "then the church ought to apologise."

"Religious leaders must issue public comments stating their support for the legal process in all situations of sexual assault, as well as the victims' right to pursue legal action."

 

In March 2021, a sexual assault scandal at a Medan junior high school erupted after six female students came forward after one informed her grandparents she had been assaulted by the priest.

The girls, who were 13 at the time of the assaults, claimed Sitepu had shut them in his office and inappropriately handled them while providing "special lessons," such as ballet.

 

Sitepu allegedly took one of the pupils to a local hotel, claiming he was taking her to off-site karate classes, where he sexually attacked her and forced her to give him oral sex, according to one of the classmates.

After the student came forward, she was forced to accompany local police to the hotel and identify the room where she was assaulted on a regular basis, which Harsono and Sibarani both criticised as adding to her trauma.

 

Because of historical views about respect for persons in positions of perceived religious authority, Sibarani believes that courts in Indonesia are unwilling to condemn religious leaders or sentence them to long prison terms.