Indonesian Boy Convicted of Stealing Old Sandals An Indonesian court found a boy guilty on Wednesday of stealing a pair of worn-out sandals but allowed him to go free in a case that captured headlines and focused attention on the country's uneven judicial system. Hundreds of people who packed the court building in Central Sulawesi's capital screamed with dissatisfaction as the judge read the verdict. Most of the onlookers had brought pairs of used sandals and piled them outside the courtroom to express their frustration over the legal system. Some rallied outside the building ahead of the hearing to demand the 15-year-old boy's acquittal. The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, could have received five years in prison - the same sentence given to many terrorists, drug pushers and rapists. "Based on facts and testimony during the trial, the defendant was proven to have violated the law by committing theft," Judge Rommel Tampubolon said. He ordered that the boy be returned to his parents for counseling. Flip-flops and sandals donated by local people in support of a 15-year-old boy who is being prosecuted for lifting an old pair of sandals are lined up at a collection point in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. Thousands of Indonesians have donated flip-flops and other old sandals in a campaign to show support for the boy who could face up to five years in prison if found guilty, the same sentence given to many terrorists, drug pushers and rapists. The boy was accused of taking the sandals in November 2010 near a boarding house used by police. Six months later he was interrogated and badly beaten by three police officers who accused him of theft. One officer, Sgt. Ahmad Rusdi Harahap, claimed the sandals were his and took the teenager to criminal court. The boy was not detained. When shown the sandals at the trial, however, Harahap said they were the wrong brand and size. Judge Tampubolon ruled the boy was guilty of theft, even though the sandals did not belong to the policeman. "We are really disappointed," said Sofyan Farid Lembah of the local office of the National Commission for Child Protection. We will ask the Judicial Commission to probe the judge. Lembah earlier organized the first collection of sandals which were presented to police as a symbol of protest over the case. Thousands later joined in the sandal donation protest in Palu, Jakarta and many other cities. Two of the boy's friends testified in the trial that he was beaten up by the officer with a piece of wood. They said he was also kicked, causing him to fall into a steep trench. Indonesia has made tremendous strides toward democracy since the ouster of longtime dictator Suharto in 1998, but the judicial system remains a weak point.