Anand Krishna's Hunger Strike Day 43: A Struggle to Seek Justice in Indonesian Law System

BALI, Indonesia, April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Indonesian Prominent Spiritualist Anand Krishna is lying weak on a hospital bed in East Jakarta. He was treated for his heart condition after having a heart attack before attending the trial (16/3). Last year (5/4/2010) after an exhausting 12 hours of questioning, he collapsed in Jakarta Police Station and had developed a irregular heart beat condition called bigimenie. He was also suffering from acute diabetes, high blood pressure and earlier leukemia history.

He has been on hunger-strike since March 9th 2011 after South Jakarta District Court Judge Hari Sasangka delivered an order for the detention although Anand has been cooperative throughout the hearings since the case went to trial in August 2010, and almost no substantial evidences and witnesses related to the case had been presented. His blood plasma glucose level has dropped to 68 mg/dL (29/3), and is still dropping, but he is planned to be transferred to Cipinang Penitentiary soon by the authority.

Anand is conducting a hunger-strike, as his non-violent resistance and determination to fight against unjust and unfair treatment of the Indonesian law system, rather than against the person who acts against him.

A prominent human rights activist and Indonesia senior law practitioner, Adnan Buyung Nasution, said that the order of judge to detain Anand was considered a reckless decision, and violated Article 158 of Criminal Code and Indonesian Judge's Code of Conduct of not taking side before the official court verdict. "I've been practicing law for 50 years and just only this time, I find that a judge can put a defendant in guilty side before officially court verdict reached," he said when visiting Anand in the hospital last Thursday (24/3).

The Interfaith activist was charged under Article 290 and 294 of Criminal Code, namely committing obscene acts with someone who is unconscious or helpless. But according to Anand's lawyer, Dwi Ria Latifah S.H., the three-member panel of judges is leading the process of trial to dig out facts and witnesses related to Anand's thinkings and writings, rather than to the facts and witnesses to the sexual charges. She alleges that there was a conspiracy to criminalize Anand's thinkings because it appears that almost no fair effort was made by the presiding judges to find out the truth about the sexual harassment's indictment against Anand.

Former Indonesia Ministry of Research and Technology, Muhammad AS Hikam as friend of Gus Dur, in his blog also voiced his support to free Anand Krishna from an unjust, unhuman and unfair trial.

For more about Anand Krishna, please visit :

www.anandkrishna.org

www.aumkar.org

email: [email protected]

For further information, please contact:
Prasant Gangtani
Mobile: +628159977979
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Anand Ashram Foundation