“I started to feel the pain around two weeks after arriving in Wamena. Up to now, I can only rest at home, in the ‘honai,” he told Jubi.
Mispo Gwijangge does not speak Indonesian fluently. Therefore, when talking with him, a volunteer for Nduga refugees, Raga Kogeya, translated his responses to Jubi. Gwijangge said he never was beaten during his detention in Jakarta. He felt healthy at that time, and he even did exercise regularly.
“Only when I was under the Police’s custody in Wamena, I often got beaten. I only covered my face, while letting other parts of my body be beaten,” he said in a weak voice translated by Raga Kogeya.
His sister once was going to take him to a hospital in Wamena City, but he refused. His experience of being criminalised caused him trauma. He hopes what has been happening to him –being arrested and prosecuted, accused of doing a crime that he never committed—would never occur to other Papuans.
Raga Kogeya, a volunteer who translated the conversation between Mispo and Jubi, also suspected the pain that currently suffered by Mispo is the effect of being beaten during his detention at Jayawijaya Police.
“I’ve also been in the detention, so I know how it feels,” he said.
“When being arrested, Mispo didn’t understand Indonesian at all, and no one was there to accompany him. That’s why when the investigators asked, he could only answer ‘yes’ and ‘yes’. He began to understand a little bit of Indonesian while he was detained and tried,” said Kogeya.
Mispo Gwijangge was a victim of criminalisation who arrested and tried on charges of involvement in the murder of dozens of the road construction workers at Nduga Regency on 2 December 2018.
The public prosecutor of the Jayawijaya District Attorney accused him violating five articles of the Criminal Code, namely Article 340, Article 338, Article 351 paragraph 3, Article 328 and Article 333, therefore charged him with a maximum sentence of the death penalty.
He was transferred to Jakarta in mid-December 2019 to continue his trial there. The panel judges of the Central Jakarta District Court declined the prosecutor’s indictment through an interim verdict on 8 April 2020.
The panel judges stated that any charges against Mispo Gwijangge must be terminated and he should be released due to a consideration that he was still a minor.
The result of the dental examination by the dentistry team of the Central Army Hospital (RSPAD) and Padjajaran University (Unpad) Bandung proved that Mispo’s age at the time of the trial ranged from 16 to 18.9 years old, or average 17.5 years old.
If throwing back at the time when the murder of PT Istaka Karya workers at Nduga Regency in December 2018 occurred, Mispo was around 15.5 years old.
Regarding the verdict, the public prosecutor submitted an appeal. However, the DKI Jakarta High Court upheld the conclusion of the Central Jakarta District Court to close the case against Mispo Gwijangge. (*)
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2) Indonesia summons UK envoy over Papua separatist leader Agence France-Presse | Jakarta
Agence France-Presse | Jakarta
Jakarta / Sun, December 6, 2020 / 04:51 pm
Indonesia has lodged a formal protest with Britain after a UK-based separatist leader announced an interim government-in-exile for the restive Papua province.
Mineral-rich Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, has been dealing for decades with a low-level separatist insurgency, as well as poverty and communal tensions.
Benny Wenda, leader of a pro-independence group, this week declared himself the president of a new interim government in Papua, but an infuriated Jakarta dismissed his claim.
Indonesia's foreign ministry on Friday summoned British ambassador Owen Jenkins to convey "strong protest" over Benny Wenda's statements and activities, according to ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah.
"The British ambassador promised he would deliver Indonesia's strong protest and he also reiterated the UK government stance on the sovereignty and unity of Indonesian regions," he said in a statement on Saturday.
The British embassy did not comment.
Indonesia took control of Papua, a former Dutch colony, in the 1960s after a vote -- widely viewed as rigged -- showed a majority favoured staying under Jakarta's rule.
Wenda, who has been living in Britain since the early 2000s, leads one of the groups campaigning for Papua's independence, and Jakarta has declared that he is no longer an Indonesian citizen.
Indonesian security forces tasked with crushing the Papua rebellion have long been accused of committing atrocities against Papuan civilians.
The impoverished region has also seen communal and ethnic violence in recent years.
A spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights office said Monday the organisation was "disturbed by escalating violence over the past weeks and months" in Papua.
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3) OPM explains background to dispute with Benny Wanda and ULMWP
CNN Indonesia – December 4, 2020
Jakarta – The fissure in relations between the West Papua National Liberation Army-Free Papua Organisation (TPNPB-OPM) and the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) began to sharpen in 2017.
This was revealed by TPNPB-OPM spokesperson Sebby Sambom after the organisation rejected a declaration of Papua independence made by ULMWP Chairperson Benny Wenda on December 1.
Differences of opinion began to appear three years ago after the OPM took part in establishing the ULMWP.
According to Sambom, slowly but surely Wenda began take positions which conflicted with the Papua liberation movement which was being built by the OPM and other organisations.
"We will not compromise with Benny Wenda's group", Sambom told CNN Indonesia when contacted by telephone on Thursday December 3.
Sambom recollected that the OPM took part in establishing the ULMWP in 2014 in Vanuatu. But in 2016 the OPM got wind of indications that Benny Wenda and his group were starting to intervene in the ULMWP, even acting as if he was the leader of the group.
Wenda even formed a security force which Sambom referred to as a move to interfere in all aspects of the OPM movement.
"In 2016-2017 Benny Wenda's organisation formed the West Papua Revolutionary Army. So they came in and intervened as if the ULMWP was an organisation belonging to Wenda", reiterated Sambom.
"In the end the OPM saw this as not well intended. So it withdrew [from the ULMWP], in 2017", he continued.
Sambom claims that there is a difference in resolve between his organisation and Wenda and his colleagues' group. He even accuses Wenda of actually intending to destroy the Papuan people struggle for independence. It was based on this that the OPM withdrew from the ULMWP.
"Benny Wenda's group had a plan, they had a setting, we read this as damaging the national interest so the TPNPB did not want to be responsible for Benny and his groups sins", he said.
Since 2017 OPM representatives have no longer taken part in ULMWP meetings and officially declared that they had left the organisation on the grounds of a difference in principles.
"We were forced to pull out in 2017. And we did not take part in meetings in 2017. We announced this at a forum, announced it at a forum in 2017", he continued.
Sambom continued saying that after officially declaring their opposition to Wenda, Wenda then formed a rival military organisation to oppose the OPM in Papua. The organisation formed by Wenda was called the West Papua Army which began operating last year.
"Then in 2019 Benny and his group formed a counter organisation, namely the West Papua Army. So we believed that Benny and his group are destroying our struggle for independence", said Sambom in conclusion.
The different paths taken by the two organisations came to the surface following a declaration of Papuan independence by Wenda on December 1. The declaration was strongly opposed by the TPNPB-OPM. (tst/nma)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "OPM Bongkar Siasat Benny Wenda di ULMWP Rebut Tanah Papua".]
Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20201204121743-20-577939/opm-bongkar-siasat-benny-wenda-di-ulmwp-rebut-tanah-papua
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