In the early hours of February 7, 2025, a tense atmosphere enveloped Cibetus Village, Padarincang, Serang Regency, Banten. The silence of the night was immediately broken by the clattering steps of armed officers who came to the houses of residents. Without warning, they banged on and even broke down the doors of the houses, spreading paralyzing fear.
Dozens of people were forcibly arrested and taken to unknown places. As of February 13, at least 15 people had been arrested without adequate explanation to their families or communities.
The arrests came after residents staged a protest demanding the closure of a chicken farm owned by PT Sinar Ternak Sejahtera (STS), a subsidiary of food industry giant Charoen Pokphand.
For years, residents of Padarincang Village, Serang, Banten, have been complaining about environmental contamination caused by large-scale chicken farms in their neighborhood. Instead, small communities that tried to defend their land and environment were criminalized and arrested. Cibetus residents have been complaining about the STS chicken farm since 2018. They demand that the company take responsibility for the strong odor and water pollution that continue to disrupt their lives. The farm is considered to be the cause of the pungent odor, groundwater pollution, and increased cases of illnesses such as coughing, fever, shortness of breath, and skin irritation.
The residents did not remain silent; they continued to fight back. Cibetus residents took action in solidarity with the nine residents of Cibetus Village who are in the Banten Police Detention Center. Muniroh, a resident of Cibetus Village, could not hold back her tears after the trial ended. The 36-year-old woman was fighting for justice because her son and younger brother were suspects in the case of burning STS chickens.
Muniroh said that her underage son was arrested at a boarding school in Padarincang on February 7. His younger brother, on the other hand, was arrested at his home without any notice or clear arrest warrant.
Walhi said that the criminalization of the nine Cibetus residents was not the first time, nothing that over the past 10 years (2014-2024), there were 1,131 people who became victims of criminalization in Indonesia. This brutal arrest shows how the law works in this country. Citizens who repeatedly report environmental pollution that makes them sick are ignored.
Currently, the people of Cibetus, Padarincang, continue to fight in the Serang District Court (PN), Banten, to free 11 people who were forcibly arrested and innocent. The first pretrial hearing was held on Monday (14/4/2025) after previously being postponed because Banten Police, as the respondent, was absent.
However, Judge Galih decided not to continue the pretrial hearing after stating that the case had been submitted to the court. “I see in the SIPP (Case Tracking Information System) this case has been submitted, so the pretrial cannot be continued,” Galih said when reading out the decision in the main courtroom of Serang District Court.
The cases in question included the names of Cecep Supriyadi, Nana, Samsul, Abdul Rohman, M. Ridwan, and Yayat Sutihat. The judge referred to the provisions of Article 82, paragraph 1, letter c, of the Criminal Procedure Code as well as Supreme Court Circular Letter (SEMA) Number 5 of 2021, which states that pre-trial cannot be continued after the case has been submitted to the court because the status of the suspects has changed to defendants.
Responding to the decision, the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), as the legal counsel for the nine residents of Cibetus Village, was disappointed that their pretrial request was dismissed by the judge.
One of the TAUD team members, Belly Stanio Pulungan, said that he was very disappointed with the decision of the single judge. Article 82, paragraph 1, letter c of the Criminal Procedure Code, which is the reason why the pretrial motion was dismissed, is indeed a problematic article.
The article explicitly states that the pretrial is void once the main trial begins in court. This provision is further emphasized by Supreme Court Circular Letter (SEMA) Number 5 of 2021.
“We see serious structural problems in Article 82. The dirty practices of the authorities may continue to occur, and the only legal resistance space we have is pretrial. But even that space is immediately closed once the case is registered with the court,” Belly said, as quoted by Bantennews, Monday (4/14/2025).
According to Belly, the judge’s decision reflects how weak legal protection is in the application of Article 82, paragraph 1, letter c of the Criminal Procedure Code. Arbitrary actions in the arrest and naming of suspects of Padarincang residents who allegedly violated legal procedures were legitimized.
“The violation of the law during the arrest of the residents of Cibetus Village actually seems legitimate,” he added.
The Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD) also flatly rejected the judge’s reasoning about the three other suspects Didi, Usup, and Nasir whose case files had been submitted to the Serang District Court with case number 244/Pid.B/2025/PN SRG. For TAUD, this claim is unjustified.
From this incident, the Cibetus community continued to stand in solidarity with each other and Enter Nusantara was involved in the advocacy efforts of Cibetus residents and directly accompanied the solidarity action at the Banten Police. Enter Nusantara is present with other civil society networks to ensure that the rights of citizens who are criminalized are not ignored, and to encourage a fair and transparent legal process. Our presence is a form of commitment that the people’s struggle to defend their living space should not go alone.
