Limitation of The Authority of The Supreme Court in Addressing Cassation Applications for Exceptional Decisions Post The New KUHAP

This study constructs a critical analysis of the legal implications of Article 299 paragraph (2) letter a of Law Number 200 of 2026 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code (New Criminal Procedure Code), which limits the absolute competence of the Supreme Court in examining cassation requests against acquittals (vrijspraak). Using a normative-doctrinal legal research method, this study identifies legal loopholes through the integration of the statute approach, the conceptual approach, and the case approach. The legal materials are analyzed descriptively-qualitatively using the deductive-syllogistic reasoning method to test the consistency of norms from the perspective of principles, theories, and judicial dynamics. The results of the study suggest that the regulation of restrictions on cassation against acquittals is intended to protect the defendant's rights to legal certainty and the principle of finality of court decisions. However, on the other hand, there are four fundamental weaknesses in the regulation of these restrictions, namely: First, macro-principally, the norm triggers an asymmetry of justice and degrades the right to access to justice for the Public Prosecutor as a representative of the victim and the state. Second, theoretically, this restriction distorts the essential function of the Supreme Court as the guardian of the unity of law (judex juris). Third, vertically, this rule creates disharmony with the ratio decidendi of the Constitutional Court Decision Number 114/PUU-X/2012. Fourth, practically, the absolute firmness of this norm actually contains a historical risk in the form of the re-emergence of anomalous contra legem decisions at the lower court level, replicating the historical precedent of the Supreme Court Decision Number 275 K/Pid/1983.