Portrait of Fariz RM Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison and a Fine of Rp 800 Million, Criminal History as an Aggravating Factor

The hearing with the agenda of reading the indictment was previously postponed twice. The postponements occurred because the indictment documents from the public prosecutor were not yet completed to be read in front of the panel of judges.

In its indictment, the public prosecutor outlined several considerations that formed the basis of the indictment. There were factors that aggravated and mitigated for the defendant. The legal history of Fariz RM became one of the main points that aggravated the case.

"Before we reach the indictment against the defendant, we will present the matters we considered in the criminal indictment, namely the aggravating factors, that the defendant's actions do not support the government's program in combating the circulation of narcotics, the defendant has been previously convicted," said the public prosecutor in the courtroom.

"The mitigating factor is that the defendant has been cooperative during the trial process," the public prosecutor further stated. Nevertheless, there is one thing that is considered to lessen the sentence for the singer of the song Barcelona. The cooperative attitude shown by Fariz RM during the trial process is taken into account by the public prosecutor.

"It is declared that the defendant has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing a criminal act against the law by possessing, storing, controlling narcotics of group one that are not plants and participating in committing a crime without rights or against the law by possessing narcotics of group one in a non-plant form," explained the public prosecutor.

"As stated in the indictment, violating the second charge of article 112 paragraph 1 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics and also violating article 111 paragraph 1 letter a of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics junto article 55 paragraph 1 number 1 of the Criminal Code," the public prosecutor explained.

Based on that, the public prosecutor requested the panel of judges to impose a prison sentence. "To impose a sentence on the defendant of 6 years in prison, reduced by the time the defendant has been in temporary detention, with an order for the defendant to remain in custody."

Not only a prison sentence, a fine was also read out with the provision of additional penalties if not paid. "To impose a fine on the defendant amounting to Rp 800,000,000.00 (eight hundred million rupiah), if the fine is not paid, it will be replaced with a 3-month prison sentence," he requested.