The case of teacher Herry Wirawan has shocked Indonesia and highlighted the need to protect children from sexual violence in the country’s religious boarding schools.
After he was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in the city of Bandung in February, prosecutors who wanted the death penalty appealed.
“(We) hereby punish the accused with the death penalty,” the judge said in a statement released Monday on the Bandung High Court website.
Ira Mambo, Herry’s attorney, declined to comment on whether there would be an appeal, citing the need to see the court’s full verdict.
A spokesman for local prosecutors also said they would await the final decision before commenting.
Between 2016 and 2021, Herry sexually groomed the 13 girls, ages 12 to 16, and impregnated eight of his victims, a judge said in February. Some sustained injuries from his rape.
Indonesian officials, including the country’s child protection minister, had also supported calls for the death penalty, although the country’s human rights commission, which opposes the death penalty, said it was not appropriate.
Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim majority in the world, has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools and other religious schools, which often provide children from poorer families with the only opportunity to receive an education.