Religious court judge dismissed due to extramarital affair

Two judges from a lower court in Jambi, one of whom is a religious court judge, were dismissed on Tuesday by a joint ethics panel, which found that the judges had breached their code of ethics by having an extramarital affair.

The two judges, Elsadela and Mastuhi, were brought to an ethics panel set up jointly by the Supreme Court and the Judicial Commission, after Elsadela’s husband Herman filed a report against his wife at the Jambi High Court due to his suspicions that she had an affair with Mastuhi, a married man and father of three children.

“The aggravating factor is that the misconduct occurred repeatedly and inside an office of the Tebo Religious Court,” Desnayati, a Supreme Court panel member, said on Tuesday while reading out the ruling.

Elsadela and Mastuhi are the latest judges found to have breached the ethical code regarding extramarital affairs.

Last week an ethics hearing banned judge M. Reza Latuconsina of the Ternate District Court from hearing cases for two years after he was found to have had extramarital relations with a clerk working in the same court.

The panel is set to hear other extramarital cases later this week.

In its ruling, the panel said a witness had revealed that Elsadela was working on a divorce from her husband, and that she had once said he had verbally abused her.

Elsadela later sought advice from Mastuhi on the possible divorce, as he was a religious court judge who heard divorce cases, before they began an affair.

In her defense statement, Elsadela said she fell into Mastuhi’s trap after he seduced her.

Separately, Supreme Court spokesman Ridwan Mansyur said it was difficult for his office to prevent such adultery, as it involved the private lives of judges.

He said that the court could only issue warnings against committing such practices.

“Their salaries were already raised [by the government], not to mention that they already got their allowances. However, temptation remains for them,” Ridwan said. “They should not use the excuse of being stationed far from their families to justify their actions, because all judges sign deals [agreeing] that they are ready to be stationed anywhere in the country.”

Previously, Judicial Commission member Taufiqurrahman Sahuri criticized the Supreme Court’s system, which often stations judges far from their families, saying such a mechanism encouraged adultery.

“I believe [adultery occurs] because there is the intention and opportunity to do so. Many of the judges are stationed at courts far from their homes and they don’t have their families with them,” he said.

Last year, the joint panel handed down penalties to seven judges. Of the seven cases, four involved adultery, two involved bribery and one was related to drug abuse.

Two female judges were involved in the adultery cases.

One of the female judges, Vica Natalia of the Jombang District Court, was found guilty of breaching the judges’ ethical code by having extramarital affairs with a fellow judge and a lawyer.

The ethics panel stripped her of her position.