Court rejects Omni request to withdraw civil suit against Prita

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 12/17/2009 8:34 PM

The Tangerang District Court has rejected Omni International Hospital request to withdraw its civil suit against Prita Mulyasari as the latter has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court.

"We can not approve Omni request just because Omni and Prita agreed to settle their case out of court," Tangerang District Court chief HM Asnun said as quoted by Antara news agency on Thursday.

"Let's await the Supreme Court verdict for Prita's appeal."

Prita was accused of defaming Omni for emailing her friends about the hospital's poor service.

She was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay Rp 204 million to the hospital by the Tangerang District Court.

The Banten High Court upheld the verdict, forcing Prita to file an appeal to the Supreme Court.