Military officers behind acid attack on Indonesian activist sentenced

Four military officers have been charged and sentenced over the acid attack. (ABC News: Tim Swanston)

Four military intelligence officers have been sentenced to up to three years in jail, after they threw sulphuric acid over a human rights activist in a brazen attack in Central Jakarta.

CCTV captured the assault on Andrie Yunus, 27, with two of the officers throwing acid on him while he was riding his motorcycle home late at night in March.

The footage showed Andrie dropping his bike and screaming as he clawed at his clothes while onlookers ran to help.

Andrie, who has been a vocal critic of the military's growing influence in Indonesia, is still recovering in hospital after receiving second- and third-degree burns across a quarter of his body.

Four officers — Second Sergeant Edi Sudarko, First Lieutenant Budhi Hariyanto Widhi Cahyono, Captain Nandala Dwi Prasetya and First Lieutenant Sami Lakka — were found guilty of premeditated assault resulting in serious injury.

It was the lesser of the three charges brought against them.

Each of the officers received separate sentences for their role in the incident: three years, 2.5 years, 2 years and 1 year respectively.

The two officers who threw the acid on Andrie have been dishonourably discharged from the military.

Prosecutors told the court they believed the officers did not intend to cause permanent injury to Andrie.

Prosecutors and the judges also took a swipe at Andrie for not participating in the trial.

A witness protection agency gave a report to the court that Andrie was not medically fit to participate.

Andrie's legal team, the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), said the activist had still been recovering from surgeries and severe burns when military prosecutors wanted to see him in hospital.

The team also effectively boycotted the military court process, describing it as a "sham".

Judges said they took Andrie's behaviour into account in sentencing.

"[Andrie] has not only neglected his legal obligations, but has acted to the prejudice of the trial process," chief judge Colonel Fredy Ferdian Isnartanto said.

"By casting a negative stigma and demonstrating a complete lack of confidence in the military justice system, his conduct amounts to an abuse of the lawful processes established by the state.

"The panel finds that Mr Andrie Yunus's attitude has undermined the authority of the court."

The military court judges have ordered that key evidence be destroyed.

They also ordered the destruction of a USB drive with the CCTV footage, a used car battery and a bottle of rust remover used to