Obstruction

Obstruction of Justice is a deliberate action to obstruct or prevent, impede or frustrate suspects, defendants and witnesses in a legal process.[1] The term obstruction of justice is a legal terminology originating from the Anglo Saxon legal system.[2] According to the Legal Dictionary as quoted by Muh Sutri Mansyah and La Ode Bunga Ali, “an attempt to interfere with the administration of the courts, the judicial system or law enforcement officers, including threatening witnesses, inappropriate conversations with jurors, hiding evidence, or interfering with an arrest. Such activity is a crime”.[3] If loosely translated into Indonesian, it is an attempt to disrupt the administration of the court, the justice system or law enforcement officials, including threatening witnesses, inappropriate conversations with jurors, hiding evidence, or interfering with arrests. Such activities are crimes.

According to Fadli in Difia Setyo Mayrachelia and Irma Cahyaningtyas, Obstruction of Justice is grouped into 3 (three) forms of action, including:

1. The act of deliberately preventing, the perpetrator of a crime of prevention carrying out certain actions so that investigations, prosecutions and examinations cannot be carried out as stipulated in the law;
2. The act of deliberately obstructing, the perpetrator of the criminal act has taken certain actions so that the ongoing investigation, prosecution and trial in court are hampered from being carried out in accordance with statutory regulations;
3. The act of deliberately thwarting, the perpetrator has carried out certain actions so that the investigation, prosecution and trial examination are prevented from being carried out as regulated by law.[4]

In Indonesia, in general Obstruction of Justice is regulated in Article 221 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code (hereinafter referred to as the Criminal Code), which states;

(1) Threatened with a maximum imprisonment of nine months or a maximum fine of three hundred thousand rupiah:

Number 1. any person who intentionally harbors a person who has committed a crime or who has been charged with a crime; or anyone who provides assistance to him to avoid investigation or detention by judicial or police officials, or by other people who according to the provisions of law are continuously or temporarily entrusted with carrying out police positions;

2nd. any person who, after the commission of a crime and with the intention of covering it up or to hinder or complicate its investigation or prosecution, destroys, removes, hides the objects against which or in the name of which the crime was committed, or traces of other crimes, or withdraws them from the inspection carried out by judicial or police officials, or by other people, who according to the provisions of the law are continuously or temporarily entrusted with carrying out police positions.

Meanwhile, specifically there are also laws and regulations that regulate obstruction of justice, namely those regulated on; Article 22 of Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons; Article 138 of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics as amended by Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation; and Article 102 of Law Number 18 of 2013 concerning Prevention and Eradication of Forest Destruction as amended by Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation.

In his formulation of criminal acts, Simons formulated criminal acts, namely, “Een Strafbaar gestelde onrechmatige (wederrechtelijke), met schuld in verband staade handeling vaneen toerekeningsvatbaar person”.[5] Based on this opinion, Satochid Kertanegara divides the elements of criminal acts, including: Actions that can be punished; Actions taken against the law; Actions with associated errors; Actions committed by people who can be punished (toerekeningsvatbaar).[6] In essence, the act of Obstruction of Justice in a legal process is a criminal act or an act that is not justified by law because this act can hinder the progress of the legal process in a case. Thus, the act of obstruction of justice is categorized as a criminal act, which means that it is an act that is prohibited by statutory regulations because there is a threat in the form of criminal sanctions for the perpetrator who commits it.

Bibliography

Isra, Saldi, ‘Obstruction Of Justice: Tindak Pidana Menghalangi Proses Hukum Dalam Upaya Pemberantasan Korupsi’, Perpustakaan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, 2015, p. 174 <https://perpustakaan.kpk.go.id/index.php?p=show_detail&id=9283&keywords=> [accessed 6 September 2022]

Junianto, Johan Dwi, ‘Obstruction of Justice Dalam Pasal 21 Undang-Undang No. 31 Tahun 1999 Tentang Pemberantasan Tindak Pidana Korupsi’, Media Iuris, 2.3 (2019), 335 <https://doi.org/10.20473/mi.v2i3.15208>

Mansyah, Muh Sutri, and La Ode Bunga Ali, ‘Menghilangkan Alat Bukti Oleh Penyidik Tindak Pidana Korupsi Sebagai Upaya Obstruction Of Justice’, Ekspose: Jurnal Penelitian Hukum Dan Pendidikan, 18.2 (2020), 877–84 <https://doi.org/10.30863/ekspose.v18i2.487>

Mayrachelia, Difia Setyo, and Irma Cahyaningtyas, ‘Karakteristik Perbuatan Advokat Yang Termasuk Tindak Pidana Obstruction of Justice Berdasarkan Ketentuan Pidana’, Pembangunan Hukum Indonesia, 4.1 (2022), 121–32

[1] Saldi Isra, ‘Obstruction Of Justice: Tindak Pidana Menghalangi Proses Hukum Dalam Upaya Pemberantasan Korupsi’, Perpustakaan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, 2015, p. 174 <https://perpustakaan.kpk.go.id/index.php?p=show_detail&id=9283&keywords=> [accessed 6 September 2022].

[2] Muh Sutri Mansyah and La Ode Bunga Ali, ‘Menghilangkan Alat Bukti Oleh Penyidik Tindak Pidana Korupsi Sebagai Upaya Obstruction Of Justice’, Ekspose: Jurnal Penelitian Hukum Dan Pendidikan, 18.2 (2020), 877–84 <https://doi.org/10.30863/ekspose.v18i2.487>.

[3] Mansyah and Ali.

[4] Difia Setyo Mayrachelia and Irma Cahyaningtyas, ‘Karakteristik Perbuatan Advokat Yang Termasuk Tindak Pidana Obstruction of Justice Berdasarkan Ketentuan Pidana’, Pembangunan Hukum Indonesia, 4.1 (2022), 121–32.

[5] Johan Dwi Junianto, ‘Obstruction of Justice Dalam Pasal 21 Undang-Undang No. 31 Tahun 1999 Tentang Pemberantasan Tindak Pidana Korupsi’, Media Iuris, 2.3 (2019), 335 <https://doi.org/10.20473/mi.v2i3.15208>.

[6] Junianto.