Video of Indonesia police chief on sacking corrupt cops falsely linked to murder probe
- Published on July 17, 2024 at 03:33
- 4 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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"The national police chief will fire the police officers involved in the Vina case in Cirebon," read text superimposed on a TikTok video with more than 994,000 views.
The Vina case refers to the murder of teenagers Vina Dewi Arsita and Muhammad Rizky in 2016 in Cirebon in Indonesia's West Java province.
Police have long faced criticism over their handling of the killing, in which, according to the 2017 verdict by Cirebon Court, the pair were beaten and 16-year-old Vina raped by a gang of motorcyclists.
Following the release in May of a film about the murder that sparked fresh public interest in the case, police announced they had arrested a suspect who had never been caught.
But the 27-year-old man was released weeks later after a court ruled he had been wrongfully detained (archived link).
Indonesia's national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the force respected the court decision but did not announce the firing of officers handling the case, as of July 16 (archived link).
The video, which circulated in similar posts on TikTok, Snack Video and YouTube shows the national police's ex-deputy chief Syafruddin Kambo talking about firing officers.
Corruption warning
A keyword search on YouTube found the full video of Syafruddin speaking to reporters, which reveals he was in fact threatening to sack police officers who extort money from truck drivers, not officers handling the Vina murder case.
Indonesian channel Kompas TV posted the video on May 9, 2018, when Syafruddin was deputy chief of national police (archived link).
The clip shared on social media was taken from the video's 1:05 mark, when Syafruddin said: "I'll fire them immediately. When there is a valid video evidence, we fire them on the spot."
Just before that remark, he said that police officers should have no need to extort cash as they received sufficient compensation.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the footage shared in false posts (left) and in Kompas TV's YouTube video (right).
The video shared on social media also shows clips of police inspector Rudiana, who goes by one name, and national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo speaking separately.
AFP found a longer version of the video of Rudiana posted on TikTok on May 17, 2024 (archived link).
The footage shows him addressing a group of young people and advising them to get home safely.
He does not mention the Vina murder case.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the footage shared in false posts (left) and in the TikTok video (right).
The clip of Sigit was taken from a YouTube video livestreamed on June 21, 2023 by Indonesia's Police Higher Education College (archived link).
The footage shows him speaking at a graduation ceremony for new police recruits, according to the video's description.
The clip shared in false posts was taken from the video's 4:24:10 mark, where the police chief warned new officers to be careful about their social media posts.
"I will remind you again, this is the age of social media. If you are good, your good deeds will be known by many people," he said.
"On the other hand, if you do something bad, people will quickly find out about it."
AFP has previously fact-checked misinformation about the murder case here and here.
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