Lawyers launch court action challenging Indonesia's annexation of West Papua

ABC

Lawyers launch court action challenging Indonesia's annexation of West Papua

In a landmark case, lawyers in Indonesia have launched court action to challenge the country's fifty-year incorporation of West Papua into its territory.

Lawyers representing about 20 Papuans are seeking a judicial review at the country's highest court, arguing the UN supervised referendum in 1969 — known as the 'Act of Free Choice' — that effectively handed Papua to Indonesia was illegal because only 1,000 people could vote out of a population of 800,000.

The referendum has instead led to five decades of brutal control and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Duration: 2min 50sec

Broadcast: Wed 1 May 2019, 8:01am

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/indonesian-annexation-of-west-papua-faces-court-challenge/11061232?fbclid=IwAR2h_POeVYHCLih5AnlCDvQwEz2Q3QPPlIEG8FpF_QXSsf-NKBxpUTeDIwM

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Phil Erari, Papuan
Agus Sumule, spokesman for lawyers representing Papuan claimants

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