Indonesia returns former teacher to prison after revoking parole

Indonesian authorities have returned former teacher Mochamad Subchi Azal Tsani, known as Bechi, to prison after revoking his parole. He arrived at Malang Class I prison on 8 October at about 11.25am local time, according to East Java corrections chief Kusnali. The revocation order was dated 30 September and reached regional officials on 6 October. [3]

Bechi was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022 for sexually assaulting a female pupil at an Islamic boarding school in East Java. The BBC reports that he was acquitted of rape charges and convicted of the lesser offence concerning one pupil. [1][3]

Kusnali said reports concerning a victim prompted officials to revisit the process that led to Bechi’s parole. They found indications of maladministration, he said, but the examination was continuing; he suggested a procedural stage might have been missed. Six employees — five from the prison and one from the probation office — are being examined. No individual finding or sanction had been announced. [3][4]

The government had previously defended the release. It said Bechi received sentence reductions under the regulations, while coordinating minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said he had served the required two-thirds of his term and behaved well in prison. Officials say Bechi was detained from July 2022 and paroled in August 2025. That calendar period is shorter than two-thirds of the original seven-year sentence, but does not settle the calculation after sentence reductions — or whether a separate procedural step was missed. [1][5][6]

Kusnali said officials were still calculating how much of Bechi’s sentence remains. [3]