Constitutional Justices Suhartoyo, Daniel Yusmic P. Foekh, and Enny Nurbaningsih opening the panel preliminary hearing of the judicial review of Article 28 paragraph (3) of Law No. 18 of 2003 on Advocates, Monday (8/29/2022). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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Monday, August 29, 2022 | 14:59 WIB

JAKARTA (MKRI)—Zico Leonard Djagardo Simanjuntak, Petitioner of the material judicial review of Article 28 paragraph (3) of Law No. 18 of 2003 on Advocates, was absent at the preliminary hearing for case No. 79/PUU-XX/2022 on Monday, August 29, 2022 at the panel courtroom.

Constitutional Justice Suhartoyo informed that the Petitioner was absent without any notice. “Based on the Registrar’s Office report, the Petitioner is absent but only [notify the Court] through WhatsApp [chat], without any official notification and reason. Is the Petitioner attending this hearing? No? He notified [the Court] but not through an accountable channel. [He] only said he would be indisposed without any clear reason. Therefore, the panel will report this to the justice deliberation meeting (RPH). As such, the hearing is adjourned,” Justice Suhartoyo asserted.

In the petition, the Petitioner asserted that chairman of the bar association had massive influence on advocates and prospective advocates, for example on advocate professional training, bar exam, advocate identity card, appointment, supervision, and dismissal, as well as the advocate’s code of ethics and code of conduct. Such influence requires limitation of term in order to prevent abuse of power.

In the petitum, the Petitioner requested that the Court declare Article 28 paragraph (3) of the Advocate Law unconstitutional and not legally binding if interpreted to mean “The Chairman of Advocates Organization shall hold office for a maximum of 2 (two) terms and may not be re-elected for the same office and may not hold a position of the chief of a political party concurrently, both in central and regional levels.”

Writer        : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : M. Halim
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 9/5/2022 08:42 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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