The Coordinating Ministry for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections of the Republic of Indonesia is attempting to repatriate life-sentenced sexual assault convict Reynhard Sinaga from the United Kingdom.
The Special Staff for International Relations of the Coordinating Ministry for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, Ahmad Usmarwi Kaffah, revealed that efforts to return Reynhard Sinaga are planned to be conducted through bilateral negotiations between the Indonesian and British governments.
“We will do our best to return the person concerned. The British Embassy will negotiate with us in the near future. Hopefully, we can return him,” Kaffah told the press on Tuesday, 4th February.
Additionally, Kaffah stated that the Indonesian government has communicated with Reynhard Sinaga’s family, who have expressed difficulties in contacting him due to the strict prison system in the United Kingdom.
“The request from the parents is what strengthened us to carry out repatriation,” he added.
This development follows the Indonesian government’s ongoing monitoring of Reynhard Sinaga’s condition during his imprisonment in the UK. In July 2024, Sinaga, who is serving his sentence, was reportedly attacked by fellow inmates. Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, emphasized that the Indonesian government is taking this incident seriously.
“We are seriously studying and monitoring this issue because it concerns an Indonesian citizen abroad who committed a [crime] and was convicted in another country,” Mahendra previously stated during a press conference in Jakarta on Friday, 20th December 2024.
Reynhard Sinaga is a convicted rapist currently serving his prison sentence in the UK. He first arrived in the UK on a student visa in 2007. He earned two master’s degrees in Manchester and was pursuing a doctorate at Leeds University before his arrest in 2017. In January 2020, he was found guilty of 159 counts of rape against 48 different men. His modus operandi involved drugging his victims before committing sexual violence.
Initially sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 30 years before parole, Sinaga’s sentence was later increased. On 16th January 2020, British prosecutors appealed for a harsher punishment, leading the Manchester City Court of Appeal to extend his minimum term to 40 years. During the trial, British police revealed that Sinaga’s estimated number of victims was 206, with around 60 remaining unidentified. The majority of his victims were students aged between 18 and 36.