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Indonesia convicts two British journalists for visa violation

Xinhua, November 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Judging panel in an Indonesian court on Tuesday convicts two British journalists for violating the nation's immigration procedure to make a coverage for a TV program.

Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo, head of the judging panel presiding over the trial against the two British journalists Neil Richard Bonner and Rebeca Bernadette Margaret at Indonesia's Batam Court, sentenced them a 2 months and 15 days of imprisonment, shorter than a 5-month jail term for the defendants sought by a prosecutor.

The sentence was deductible with detention period of the two journalists, which means the duo could be freed within the next two days.

"We stated here that the defendants were convincingly proved of committing crimes like what have been charged by the prosecutors," Wahyu said in the trial held in Batam Court in afternoon as quoted by a local media.

Besides the imprisonment sentence, Batam Court also obliged the two British journalists to pay 25 million rupiah (about 1,800 U.S. Dollars) of fine which can be substituted with one month imprisonment period should they were unable to do so.

The two journalists were arrested by Indonesian navy when they reconstruct a sea piracy scene for a TV documentary program in Batam waters on May 28 this year.

Wahyu said that the two journalists conducted their filming activities without having permissions from Indonesian authorities. Besides that, they used tour and cultural visa to enter Indonesian territory, which was not for film making process.

Such mistakes apparently violated Indonesian immigration law, Wahyu said.

Indonesia previously jailed two French journalists for two and a half months after they were proved of misusing their tourist visa. They were arrested when conducted coverage in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua in August last year.

In May this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has officially freed foreign media to carry out their journalism jobs in any place across the nation. Indonesia's previous administrations banned foreign journalists to make coverage in Papua and Sulawesi's Poso for security reasons. Enditem