Andrie, 27, was blinded in his right eye and suffered burns to 24 percent of his body.
MILITARY personnel accused of throwing acid at human rights activist Andri Yunus attend a trial at a military court in Jakarta on 29 April 2026.
ADITYA IRAWAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Military prosecutors on Wednesday indicted four Indonesian soldiers on charges including premeditated assault for their alleged role in an acid attack on an activist critical of the armed forces’ perceived expanding role in government.
Andrie Yunus of the KontraS rights group, suffered serious injuries when two men on a scooter threw acid at him last month while he was riding a motorbike in Jakarta.
He had just finished recording a podcast in which he criticised what he views as the militarization of the Indonesian government under ex-general turned President Prabowo Subianto.
Andrie, 27, was blinded in his right eye and suffered burns to 24 percent of his body including his face, neck, torso and limbs, according to military prosecutor Mohammad Iswadi.
The four men arrested in the case all worked for the military’s Strategic Intelligence Agency, whose chief resigned in the aftermath. The reasons for him stepping down were never disclosed.
The suspects: Edi Sudarko, 45; Budi Hariyanto Widhi Cahyono, 43; Nandala Dwi Prasetia, 40 and Sami Lakka, 41, attended the first day of the trial in a military court Wednesday in fatigues.
They were represented by military-appointed lawyers.
A defense lawyer for the men told the court they would not dispute the indictment, allowing the trial to proceed.
According to the prosecution, the men had been inspired by anger at Andrie’s activism, not acting on orders.
Andrie and others have asked for the trial to be held in a civilian, not military, court over fears of a cover-up in a country where attacks on activists are rarely punished.
Police had initially identified two different suspects, based on CCTV footage, but they were never charged.
Prosecutor Iswadi said Wednesday that suspect Edi had expressed anger to his co-accused over a 2025 incident in which Andrie and another activist interrupted a lawmakers’ meeting in an act of protest over a revision to Indonesia’s armed forces law.
The amendment by Indonesia’s parliament last year allowed active-duty military personnel to work in 14 government ministries and state institutions — up from 10.
They were expanded to include the attorney general’s office, national disaster mitigation and the counter-terrorism agency.
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court is weighing the validity of the revision.
Iswadi said Edi and his co-conspirators jointly planned the attack at their military lodgings in Jakarta.
Budi allegedly obtained a “rust removal fluid” from a military workshop and mixed it with battery fluid, he added, before the group set out on two motorbikes in search of Andrie.
“The defendants... planned to splash Andrie Yunus with a chemical liquid known to cause serious burns,” the prosecutor added.
The charge of premeditated aggravated assault carries a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
The next hearing in the trial has been scheduled for 6 May, when the prosecution is expected to produce witnesses.
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