REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Deputy Justice and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana said that no profession in the country, including medicine, was above the law.

"It is a simple principle: Anyone who is guilty must be punished and anyone who is not guilty will not be punished," he said on Thursday.

"The question is whether they are guilty or not. Ultimately, it is the judge who decides whether or not there has been criminalization. People should respect the verdict of the judge," the deputy minister added.

He noted that even judges were not above the law and that they could also be sentenced to imprisonment, as was the case with former constitutional chief judge Akil Mochtar. He pointed out that the chief of the highest judicial institution was sent to jail for allegedly receiving bribes while he was chief justice.

"No one is above the law, including doctors," he added.

The deputy minister made the statement in response to recent demonstrations by doctors across the country protesting a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, which convicted Dr. Dewa Ayu Sasiary Prawani, Dr. Hendy Siagian and Dr. Hendry Simanjuntak of medical malpractice and sent them to jail. The demonstrators have dubbed the ruling "a criminalization of medical action." 

Each was sentenced to 10 months in jail by the Supreme Court. Earlier, two lower courts had acquitted them in the same case.

The case revolves around the death of their patient, Julia Fransiska Maketeyn, at RD Kandou hospital in Malalayang, Manado, North Sulawesi, on April 10, 2010. Julia died during an operation to help deliver her baby.

Her death prompted her family to file a lawsuit, which eventually led to the doctors imprisonment. The Supreme Court ruled that the doctors were guilty of "causing death by negligence." Thousands of doctors went on strike and took to the streets across the country on Wednesday to protest the ruling. Efforts are underway for a judicial review of the case.

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