On 21 November 2017 the Indonesian Prosecutor’s Office requested the East Jakarta District Court to impose a sentence of two years imprisonment on Edward Marpaung, general secretary of the Confederation of Indonesia Prosperity Trade Union (KSBSI), and the payment of a fine of 100,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah (about USD 7,345).
Mr Marpaung was sentenced for exercising his right to free speech. Charges were brought against him under Law No. 11 on Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) and Article 311 of the Criminal Code on defamation, following a complaint filed by Gusmawati Anwar, on 5 December 2014. His allegations concerned comments Mr Marpaung made on the KSBSI Facebook site about Muchtar Pakpahan, a client of Mr Anwar.
