Hasto Kristiyanto's Pretrial Motion Fails, Continues to Corruption Court Evidence on Friday

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Sole Judge Afrizal Hadi dismissed the pretrial motion filed by Hasto Kristiyanto regarding his suspect status in the bribery case involving the management of members of the 2019-2024 House of Representatives. The substantive trial of the case will proceed in court, and the suspect status will be elevated to that of a defendant.

"Adjudicating, first, declares the pretrial motion of the petitioner (Hasto Kristiyanto) null and void," said Afrizal while delivering his statement at the South Jakarta District Court, Monday (10/3/2025).

For your information, Hasto filed two pretrial motions to test the validity of his suspect status in the case of alleged bribery related to the management of DPR members for the 2019-2024 period and obstruction of the investigation into the case. This means that one of Hasto's pretrial motions was dismissed, while the pretrial hearing regarding the suspect status for obstruction of the investigation is scheduled to take place on Friday (14/3/2025).

In his consideration, Afrizal stated that the pretrial motion could not proceed because Hasto's case had been transferred by the respondent, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to the court. If the pretrial were to continue, it could potentially result in two differing rulings, leading to legal uncertainty.

This is in accordance with Supreme Court Circular (SEMA) Number 5 of 2021, which states that pretrial examinations are nullified when the case files of a criminal act have been submitted to the court. This is because the suspect status attached to Hasto will change to that of a defendant.

In addition to suspect status, with the transfer of case files to the court, the authority to detain Hasto also shifted from the Corruption Eradication Committee to the court judge.

To judge, one, declares the applicant's (Hasto Kristiyanto) pretrial motion to be dismissed.

"So (his detention) is no longer the authority of investigators and/or public prosecutors, against whom a pre-trial motion can be requested," said Afrizal.

Before being decided by the sole judge, Hasto's legal counsel and the KPK legal team had a heated exchange regarding the fate of the pretrial motion. Ronny Talapessy, Hasto's legal counsel, for instance, brought up the absence of the KPK during the initial pretrial hearing on Monday (3/3/2025). This action was deemed an insult to the pretrial process.

Ronny observed that the absence of KPK coincided with the accelerated submission of case files to the public prosecutor, and even to the court. KPK was accused of deliberately not attending to avoid the pretrial process, thereby allowing the case to proceed in court.

Meanwhile, Head of the KPK Legal Bureau Iskandar Marwanto, did not want to respond at length to the applicant's accusations. Because, the reason for the KPK's absence during the first trial had been explained previously in the request for a postponement of the trial, namely the preparation of files.

Iskandar also asked the sole judge to dismiss the petition because the case files have been submitted to the court. This is in accordance with SEMA Number 5 of 2021, which explains that a pretrial motion is dismissed if the criminal case files have been submitted to the court.

With the dismissal of Hasto's pretrial motion regarding the suspect status of the alleged bribery of the management of members of the 2019-2024 DPR, the case will continue in the trial. Meanwhile, Hasto's status as a suspect in the alleged obstruction of investigation still needs to await the attitude of the pretrial judge on Friday (14/3/2025).

For information, Hasto is the Secretary General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who is a suspect in two cases, namely alleged bribery of the management of members of the 2019-2024 DPR and obstruction of his investigation. He is being held at the State Prison Branch of the East Jakarta Class I State Prison.

Hasto's pretrial motion was initially rejected by the judge because it was considered unclear which suspect status was being sued. Therefore, Hasto re-submitted a "second volume" of pretrial motion through two motions for each case that named him a suspect.

In the midst of the process, KPK investigators raised the legal process of Hasto's case from investigation to prosecution on Thursday (6/3/2025). The next day, Friday (7/3/2025), the KPK public prosecutor immediately submitted Hasto's case files to the corruption court (Tipikor)

"Yes, so according to the stages of the process, today the prosecutor also submitted it to the Central Jakarta District Court. And, it has been received by the clerk and recorded. So we just have to wait for the next process," said KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto, Friday (7/3/2025), after the prosecutor submitted the files to the court.

On the other hand, the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court has released the time for Hasto Kristiyanto's first trial, namely on Friday, (14/3/2025). This is listed on the Central Jakarta District Court Case Tracking Information System page.