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Prosecutors in Indonesia have demanded 36-year-old Herry Wirawan be sentenced to death and chemical castration.

Raped 13 students

Herry is a teacher and a founder of an Islamic boarding school in Bandung, Indonesia, that raped 13 students.

This happened when some of the students were as young as 13 years old.

He had been doing so for five years, from 2016 to 2021.

These incidents apparently happened in the school, hotels and apartments.

It is believed that he had used the school donations to pay for these hotels.

Majority of victims from poor families

According to Diah Kurniasari from the Integrated Center for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (P2TP2A), the majority of the victims come from poor families.

Some of their parents are odd job workers or farmers, she added.

Due to their financial backgrounds, these students attended the school for free.

At least seven of the students were impregnated by him and have given birth to eight babies.

Wife brainwashed, helps to take care of babies

Herry is married and has three children with his wife.

According to a representative from the High Prosecutor's Head Office, Asep N. Mulyana, Herry's wife had caught him doing indecent acts with one of the victims.

When she suspected that one of the victims' babies were his, Herry apparently told his wife to mind her own business.

Asep added that his wife has also helped take care of the victims' children.

He also said that it seems that she was afraid to report her husband as she was "brainwashed".

Urged for death penalty and chemical castration

On Jan. 11, prosecutors from the West Java Prosecutors Office asked for Herry to be given the death penalty, viewing his misdoings as a "grave crime".

The prosecutors also charged Herry to pay a fine of 500 million rupiah (S$46,967) and restitution fees of 331 million rupiah (S$31,090) each to the victims.

The prosecutors urged the judge to impose additional penalties, including chemical castration.

Chemical castration involves the administering of anaphrodisiac drugs that lower testosterone levels.

In 2016, the Indonesian parliament passed the law authorising chemical castration for child rapists for a maximum period of two years.

The law also requires the offender to be publicly named and the attachment of an electronic tracking device.

In Jan. 2021, Indonesian President Joko Widodo signed off on a government regulation that provides guidelines on the punishment mechanisms.

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Top image from Tempo.co.