Pekanbaru - Four elephant poachers arrested by Riau Police in early February 2015, have been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and a fine of 20 million Rupiah by the District Court of Pangkalan Kerinci Pelalawan Riau, January 21, 2016. This decision was welcomed by WWF Indonesia and the Indonesian Elephant Conservation Forum.

Wishnu Sukmantoro, Program Manager of WWF Central Sumatra stated, "We appreciate the panel of judges who gave relatively high sentences to the four defendants, compared to the sentences in previous cases of wildlife crime in Riau or in other parts of Sumatra."

Unfortunately, this sentence did not reach the financier of the poaching crimes, Fadli, who was revealed in the trial facts to have lent weapons to the defendants and provided capital in the form of money and logistics for hunting. Fadli, as the financier and owner of the firearms, was only designated as a witness in this case but was never able to be presented during the trial. Meanwhile, in the verdict file read out by the Panel of Judges, it was stated that Fadli was the owner of the firearms used for hunting and who funded the four perpetrators to hunt three elephants in February last year.

"This verdict is expected to have a deterrent effect on perpetrators of similar crimes but we see that the mastermind in this case has not been successfully charged," added Wisnu.

Meanwhile Krismanko Padang, Chairman of the Indonesian Elephant Communication Forum stated, "We consider the law enforcement process in this case to be incomplete because one of the alleged main perpetrators has not been caught by the law." Fadli as the financier and firearms owner should be made a suspect because he participated in planning this hunt."

Krismanko added, ""The facts of the trial very clearly mention the connection between firearms and the death of elephants and the judge ordered to present the owner of the weapon, Fadli. With this fact, it is very appropriate for Fadli to be made a suspect using Law no.5 of 1990 and emergency law no. 12 of 1951 concerning firearms."

For more information, please contact:

• Syamsidar, Senior Communication Officer WWF Indonesia, Riau. Email: syamsidar@wwf.id Mobile: 08126896095
• Krismanko Padang, Chairperson of the Indonesian Elephant Communication Forum. Email:krismankogajah@gmail.com HP: 0812 7865493

Editor's Note:
Chairman of the Panel of Judges, Bangun Sagita Rambe said that the facts of the trial proved that the four defendants hunted three Sumatran elephants in Segati Village, Langgam-Pelalawan Subdistrict using long-barreled firearms.

Ari Bin Kamin was legally and convincingly proven to have killed three Sumatran elephants using a firearm. The other three perpetrators (Ishak, Anwar Sanusi and Herdani Serdavio) were proven to have participated in the elephant poaching. Previously, in July 2015, the four defendants were sentenced to 1 year in prison at the Bengkalis District Court for killing one elephant for its 1.8m tusk. The files of the four defendants were then transferred to the Pangkalan Kerinci District Court because they were found guilty of poaching three elephants in Segati Village, Langgam Subdistrict, Pelalawan, an area around the Tesso Nilo forest block.