Jakarta. Disgraced police officer Teddy Minahasa on Thursday criticized prosecutors for recommending the death sentence for him only because he is the highest-ranking officer among defendants and for taking reference to the earlier murder trial against another police general Ferdy Sambo.

Prosecutors have sought the maximum punishment for Teddy for allegedly stealing 5 kilograms of methamphetamine from the police evidence locker while he was the chief of the West Sumatra Police.

But Teddy denied any wrongdoing, arguing that he was implicated only because he was the superior of co-defendants in the case.

He accused former subordinate Doddy Prawiranegara of putting all the blame on him to get leniency, inspired by the case of Ferdy who was sentenced to death for murder while the convicted hitman, Richard Eliezer, was sentenced to just 18 months.

“Doddy Prawiranegara is copying the acts of Eliezer by putting the blame on his superior, while in fact [Doddy] is the mastermind,” Teddy said.

Doddy, the former police chief of Bukittinggi Regency in West Sumatra, is facing 20 years in prison for the same case.

"The death sentence demand for me is very unfair and severe to me because I don’t own the meth, I’m not a drug dealer, I’m not a repeat offender,” Teddy said while reading out his defense statement in the courthouse. 

He denied having made any profit from the stolen meth or taken part in the group of officers who allegedly stole the evidence and replaced it with alums.

Prosecutors have recommended prison sentences between 17 and 20 years for four defendants in the case including three policemen and a civilian woman.

"No wonder that prosecutors saved the maximum punishment for me -- not for other defendants who have been proven of meth possession, making a profit of it, and getting involved in drug trafficking -- because they are still following the paradigm of the masses,” he told the court.

“As a provincial police chief, I was able to cope financially. Why should I sacrifice my 30-year career in the police for a case worth Rp 300 million?"