The Semarang Military Court, on Indonesia’s main island of Java, tried the chief private, identified only as P, and found him guilty of violating Article 103 of the Military Criminal Code on disobedience to service orders due to him having had sex with a subordinate.

The court sentenced him to one year in jail and dishonourably discharged him from the army.

Now Amnesty International Indonesia has condemned the Indonesian Military (TNI) for its policy on gay sex in the ranks. Executive director Usman Hamid said ‘This unjust sentence should be immediately overturned and the individual immediately released. No one should be persecuted based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation’. ‘It further enshrines discrimination and risks inciting violence against perceived LGBT people inside the military and in wider society.’

Moreover, Amnesty also highlighted other cases of LGBT+ persecution in the armed forces.  It said that in March, a court convicted a military officer in Denpasar, on the holiday island of Bali, of having sex with three men. The officer appealed but the Surabaya Military High Court backed the martial court in Denpasar.

Meanwhile, the TNI responded that it would always punish homosexuality in the force.

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