13 December 2018

An Indonesian court has thrown out a lawsuit against an environmental expert whose testimony led to the conviction of a governor in a mining scandal.

Basuki Wasis, an expert on environmental degradation from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), had testified...in the trial of Nur Alam, the governor of Southeast Sulawesi province, who was charged with abuse of power in the issuance of mining licenses.

...As the case proceeded, however, Alam sued Basuki, questioning the accuracy of his calculations and his credibility.

...[J]udges at the Cibinong District Court in West Java province found in favor of Basuki in the lawsuit. They said his testimony as a witness for the prosecution in Alam’s trial could not be subjected to criminal or civil charges.

...The judges in Basuki’s case also addressed this issue, saying existing legal protections needed to be enforced to allow expert witnesses to continue doing their job without fear of litigation.

...An article in the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law states that no criminal charges may be brought against anyone for campaigning for their right to a clean environment. But the scope of the article is narrow....

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry is now preparing guidelines that will interpret the article more broadly to apply to environmental activism....