Woman charged with defamation for hospital complaint

Updated June 4, 2009 13:04:32

Indonesia's draconian defamation laws are under scrutiny today when a distraught mother of two young children faces court for complaining about her treatment at a hospital.

Intense media, internet and political pressure saw the woman released last night after already spending three weeks in jail for a criminal defamation offence which could see her sentenced to six years in prison. With Presidential elections looming, candidates have been scrambling over the each other to the end the woman's plight.

Presenter: Geoff Thompson
Speakers: Prita Muyasari, defamation defendent; Risma Situmorang, lawyer

THOMPSON: Prita Muyasari's story has Indonesians glued to omnipresent coverage of this housewife in a headscarf and her tearful tale of mistreatment by the swish Omni International Hospital in the poor Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Mrs Prita is the mother of a three year old and 15 month old baby whom she was still breastfeeding before suddenly being thrown into jail three weeks ago. She faces court today on internet and criminal defamation charges which could imprison her for up to six years.

"I wrote a complaint letter according to the hospital procedures", she says. "But they couldn't properly explain what I needed to know regarding a lab test result"

In an email to friends Prita accused Omni International Hospital of being "big liars" for telling her they'd sent requested lab results, when they hadn't. She accused the hospital of faking results so they could charge patients for more treatment.

"All I wanted to do was share my personal experience", she claims. "I didn't want what happened to me in that hospital to happen to my friends. That's all I wanted", she says.

Losing a civil lawsuit filed by Omni International Hospital, Prita was ordered to pay 6000 dollars in compensation and make publicly printed aplogies.

Tangerang Prosecutor's Office then took the matter into its own hands and charged Prita with criminal defamation.

Muyasari: I never thought it would go this far", she said sobbing from the prison where she spent all yesterday talking live on TV.

And neither it seems, did Indonesia's Presidential candidates. PDIP's Megawati Sukarnoputri visited Prita in prison, while current vice president and Golkar's candidate for the top job, Jusuf Kalla joined the call for her to be freed. President Suslilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged prosecutors and the police to examine the case again.

Then, when nearly 60,000 supporters signed up to a Facebook group calling for Prita's freedom, suddenly she was freed, and ordered home under house arrest.

But Omni International Hospital is not backing down. "The hospital and .doctors want to clear their names and defend their rights", says lawyer Risma Situmorang. "The accusation of being liars is not true and the trial will decide whether it can be proven or not".

The case has already proven, that just one day of intense political and media pressure can suddenly change the legal status of an accused person in Indonesia.

But the five Australians currently unable to leave the Papuan town of Merauke, pending the result of an appeal against a decision which freed them, remain as far as ever from enjoying any comparable result.