AHOK - JAKARTA. The Supreme Court has appointed Supreme Court justice Artidjo Alkostar, a judge famous for his harsh punishment of corruption convicts, to handle the case review filed by former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama challenging his blasphemy conviction.
"There was no special reason [behind the appointment]. The chief justice of the Supreme Court has the authority to appoint the justice," Supreme Court Spokesman Suhadi said on Thursday according to kompas.com.
Artidjo had made headlines in the past when he decided to give harsher punishments for corruption convicts who tried to appeal previous rulings.
In 2016, Artidjo increased the sentence of former Jakarta Transportation chief Udar Pristono from nine to 13 years in the Transjakarta bus-procurement corruption case.
Also in 2016, he increased the seven-year sentence handed down to prominent lawyer OC Kaligis to 10 years in a corruption case.
Artidjo's reputation as a firm judge has prompted some corruption convicts to withdraw their cassation proposals from the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has also appointed justice Salman Luthan and Sumardijatmo to review the case.
Ahok's lawyer Josefina Syukur said she believed the Supreme Court could give a fair decision according to the prevailing laws.
Meanwhile, Suhadi said the review could be completed by the end of March.
Ahok was convicted of blasphemy in May last year for suggesting that some people had abused a Quranic verse to block his re-election bid.
The panel of judges led by Dwiarso Budi Santiarso sentenced Ahok to two years in prison.
Earlier in February, Ahok challenged his conviction on the grounds that judges had made mistakes while handing down their ruling.
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