The Indonesian court on Monday gave a defamation conviction to a former top legislator who earlier said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was a polygamist.
Zaenal Ma'arif, a former House of Representatives deputy speaker, was put on one-year probation.
"The defendant is convincingly proven guilty of slanderous remarks and deserves a sentence of eight months in prison. But he doesn't need to serve the jail term if the crime doesn't repeat during the one-year probation," presiding judge Agoeng Rahardjo told the court.
Zaenal, himself has two wives, said he accepted the verdict.
He was tried for his July 2007 remarks that the president was already married before entering the military academy in the 1970s,and that first lady Ani Yudhoyono was Susilo's second wife.
Zaenal's remarks got immediate response from Susilo, who last year visited the Jakarta Police headquarters himself to lodge a complaint.
The former lawmaker lost his job in late 2006 at the request of his Reform Star Party (PBR), which expelled him for taking a second wife. According to the administrative procedures, the president signed a decree to fire a lawmaker.
Zaenal then accused Susilo of being a polygamist and accordingly should be removed from his post too.
He also accused Susilo of attending the military with false pretenses, as cadets at the military academy must not be married.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article