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UPDATE 2-Indonesia frees intl school teachers jailed for student abuse

Published 2015-08-14, 04:07 a/m
© Reuters. UPDATE 2-Indonesia frees intl school teachers jailed for student abuse

(Updates with teachers' release)
By Angie Teo and Mohamad Mahdiza
JAKARTA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia on Friday freed two
teachers who had been jailed for sexually abusing students at an
international school in a case critics say was fraught with
irregularities and put the country's justice system under the
spotlight.
Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teaching
assistant Ferdinand Tjiong were found guilty in April of abusing
kindergarten students at the Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS).
They had been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 100
million rupiah ($7,600). ID:nL3N0WZ3VK
"The truth has finally come out," a tearful Neil Bantleman
announced before kissing his wife upon his release from an East
Jakarta prison, where he and Tjiong were met by dozens of
cheering family members and supporters.
Earlier on Friday, the pair's lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea,
revealed that their sentence had been overturned by a higher
court citing a lack of proof of wrongdoing.
"The previous verdict has been overturned by the Jakarta
high court because there was no evidence of sodomy," Hutapea
told reporters, amid cheers from the teachers' families and
supporters.
The decision comes on the heels of the rejection by a
Jakarta court of a related multi-million dollar civil lawsuit
against the school, that was also thrown out due to a lack of
evidence. ID:nL3N10L2O2
The two cases had triggered concerns about the justice
system in Indonesia, with observers criticising the
investigation as being flawed and the criminal trial for a lack
of transparency.
The cases have been closely watched by expatriates and
diplomats in Jakarta, many of whom send their children to the
U.S.-embassy backed school.


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