Inp.polri.go.id - Denpasar. The Denpasar District Court has acquitted I Nyoman Sukena (38), a resident of Bongkasa Pertiwi village, Badung, Bali, of charges related to keeping Javan porcupines (Hysterix javanica). 

The panel of judges, presided over by Ida Bagus Bamadewa Patiputra, declared on Thursday (19/9/2024) that he was not proven to have committed a crime under the prosecution's charges.

Sukena had been accused of violating Indonesia’s Law on Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems, which prohibits keeping protected species. 

However, the court found that Sukena had unintentionally kept the animals, which he inherited from his in-laws. He initially cared for two porcupines, which later multiplied to four.

The court ordered the porcupines to be confiscated and handed over to Bali's Natural Resources Conservation Agency for release back into the wild. 

Both the prosecution and the defense accepted the verdict. Sukena had been detained but was granted house arrest last week, prior to the final verdict.

(mg/inp/pr/nm)