A number of TV journalists in Indonesia experienced physical violence following the verdict in the corruption case of the former minister of agriculture.

A number of journalists who were covering the aftermath of the verdict in the corruption case of former Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo in Indonesia experienced physical violence.


The incident occurred at the Corruption Court, Central Jakarta, on Thursday 11 July 2024.

When the chaos occurred, several people suspected of being members of mass organizations supporting SYL pushed journalists who were reporting.

Ironically, when he wanted to ask for information, one of the SYL supporters even kicked a Kompas TV journalist, resulting in the victim suffering minor injuries and damaging reporting equipment.

After the incident, journalists who were victims immediately reported the acts of violence to Polda Metro Jaya, hoping that the perpetrators would immediately be prosecuted for the sake of realizing press freedom.

The General Chair of the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI), Herik Kurniawan, via video recording strongly condemned this act of violence.

"We condemn and condemn the acts of violence committed against journalists who covered the SYL trial today," said Herik Kurniawan in a video interview on Thursday 11 July 2024.

Herik Kurniawan emphasized that this violence was a serious threat to journalists and press freedom, and asked law enforcement officials to thoroughly investigate the perpetrators.

"IJTI urges the authorities to thoroughly investigate who the perpetrators were involved in these acts of violence. These actions are very irresponsible and must be stopped. There must be no more incidents like this in the future," he stressed.

It is known that apart from Kompas TV journalists who were victims, there were also journalists from TVone and CNN journalists who suffered damage to their tripods and cameras.

Meanwhile, former Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"The defendant Syahrul Yasin Limpo was sentenced to 10 years in prison," said the chairman of the panel of judges, Rianto Adam Pontoh, when reading out the decision at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court, on Thursday 11 July 2024.

SYL was found guilty of violating Article 12 e in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 to 1 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 64 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.