The start of a Papuan independence activist’s trial on treason charges was postponed Tuesday for a third time after he fell ill and had to be hospitalized for pulmonary and gastric problems, lawyers said.
Victor Yeimo was admitted to the Jayapura General Hospital on Monday after the court and prosecutors agreed to postpone the trial pending his treatment, according to Adrianus Tomana, the public prosecutor.
“The suspension of detention was granted so that defendant Victor Yeimo can be treated in hospital,” Adrianus told BenarNews.
The activist will return to his detention cell from the hospital once he has recovered, Adrianus said.
Yeimo, the international spokesman for the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), a group seeking a referendum on independence for the Papua region, is facing charges of treason, desecration of state symbols, and weapons smuggling in connection with deadly anti-Jakarta riots that took place in 2019.
He could face two years to a maximum of life in prison, if found guilty.
The indefinite postponement marked the third time since last week that the trial’s opening was delayed. It was originally set to begin on Aug. 24 at a courthouse in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
Yeimo’s attorney, Gustav Kawer, criticized the prosecutor’s office, accusing it of delaying approval for his client’s medical treatment.
“Initially, the prosecutor had wanted the trial to proceed as planned and the defendant to remain in detention,” Kawer told BenarNews. “Maybe they wanted him to die in his detention cell.”
Last Thursday, the Jayapura District Court ordered Yeimo to receive medical treatment and adjourned the trial after receiving the results of his medical checks.
Yeimo had been held at a detention facility run by the crack Mobile Brigade police unit since his arrest on May 9.
Kawer said Yeimo had complained of chest pain and coughed up blood, with his chronic pulmonary conditions aggravated because of a poorly ventilated cell.
But police and the prosecutor’s office had initially denied requests for his client to be treated and transferred to another facility, Kawer alleged.
On Friday, police finally took Yeimo to a hospital for a series of health examinations, the defense lawyer said.
The doctor diagnosed Yeimo with acid reflux disease, chronic bronchitis and possible pulmonary tuberculosis, according to the results of the examinations, a copy of which was seen by BenarNews.
In 2019, more than 40 people were killed in Papua and neighboring West Papua province during anti-government demonstrations that turned violent. These were sparked by the perceived harsh and racist treatment of Papuan students by government security personnel in Java that August.
Police said Yeimo instigated the demonstrations, during which protestors demanded independence from Jakarta’s rule for the far-eastern Papua region, which makes up the western side of New Guinea Island.
Indonesian government forces have been accused of engaging in racist actions against indigenous people in mainly Melanesian Papua, where violence linked to a separatist insurgency has simmered for decades, and grown in recent months.
Last year, at least 13 Papuan activists and students were convicted for raising Morning Star flags – the symbol of the Papuan independence movement – during pro-referendum rallies in 2019 as part of nationwide protests against racism towards Papuans.
They were sentenced to between nine and 11 months in prison on treason charges.
‘Inhumane and cruel’
Wirya Adiwena, deputy director of the rights group Amnesty International in Indonesia, criticized the delay in treating Yeimo.
“We are grateful that he was finally hospitalized, but we also regret why the process was so slow. We’ve known how his health was and that he needed urgent treatment,” Wirya told BenarNews.
“Any attempt to prevent him from being treated constitutes inhumane and cruel treatment,” he said.
According to Wirya, Yeimo should not have been detained and prosecuted in the first place.
“His continued detention is in violation of international human rights laws and Indonesia’s constitution. It is critical that he be released as soon as possible,” Wirya said.
Papua police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal denied that Yeimo was denied treatment.
“He has been given regular health checks, including the last one, the results of which were submitted to the court,” Kamal told BenarNews.
On Monday, hundreds of people rallied outside the Papuan prosecutor's office to demand that Yeimo be immediately released, according to Jubi, a Papuan news website.
The crowd was disbanded by the police in the afternoon.
Yeimo’s current legal trouble is not his first brush with the law.
In 2009, he was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison for leading a rally demanding a referendum on self-determination for Papua.
Protester dies
In other news from the region, a Papuan man who was wounded on Aug. 16 when police fired shots at protestors in Papua’s Yahukimo regency who were demanding Yeimo’s release has died of his injuries, West Papua National Committee chairman Agus Kossay said.
Ferianus Asso, 29, died on Aug. 22 after being treated in a hospital for a bullet wound to his stomach, Kossay said.
“We are working with his family and lawyers to demand the chief of the police be held accountable and brought to justice,” Kossay told BenarNews.
Meanwhile, on the day that Asso died, rebels gunned two workers in the same regency who were involved in the construction of the Trans-Papua Highway.
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, claimed responsibility for the killings. They had killed other construction workers in the past, claiming they were government agents.
In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded Papua and annexed the region. Papua was formally incorporated into Indonesia after a U.N.-sponsored ballot called the Act of Free Choice in 1969.
Locals and activists said the vote was a sham because only about 1,000 people took part. However, the United Nations accepted the result, which essentially endorsed Jakarta’s rule.
The region is rich in natural resources and minerals, including copper and gold, but remains among Indonesia’s poorest and underdeveloped ones.
2) Ex-tapol Filep Karma shocked at prosecutor's racist treatment of Victor Yeimo
Jayapura – Former Papuan political prisoner (tapol) Filep Karma has also joined with activists and Victor Yeimo's family when along with Yeimo's lawyer they went to the private residence of the Papua chief public prosecutor in the Doc 5 area of Jayapura city on the evening of Saturday August 28.
Karma revealed that he felt shocked at the attitude of the public prosecutor who is still showing his racism towards Yeimo despite the panel of judges at a hearing at the Jayapura District Court on Thursday August 26 ordering the prosecutor to facilitate the defendant in obtaining his right to healthcare, namely a follow up examination and inpatient care at a hospital.
Just like before and despite being urged by several parties over the last two days following the court's ruling, the chief public prosecutor has not demonstrated good faith.
Moreover when Yeimo was being examined by a medical team at the Jayapura pubic hospital on the evening of Friday August 27, the prosecutor accompanied by security personnel put pressure on Yeimo not to be treated overnight and was then returned to the Papua regional police Mobile Brigade command headquarters detention centre where he has been detained since his arrest.
Yeimo's lawyer, who is part of the Papua Law Enforcement and Human Rights Coalition (KPHHP), has already met all of the administrative requirements for Yeimo's hospital treatment including providing guarantors from the Papuan Regional House of Representatives (DPRP) – legislators John NR Gobai and Laurenzus Kadepa, as well as an advocate.
"Legal affairs in Indonesia are indeed like this, excessively long-winded. Indonesia does not regard life as important, but procedures are more important than people's lives", he said.
Karma also feels that the prosecutor's actions are strange, especially because ipso facto they are an indigenous Papuan who has not heeded the order by the panel of judges during the hearing on Thursday.
"Because the prosecutor is a Papuan, he's afraid of being labeled as included towards Papuan independence. So, he will try to show that he is more nationalist than the Javanese. Yet in the eyes of the Javanese he's just a monkey. I lived in Java for a long time, so I have felt this", said Karma.
Yeimo must be treated first because, according to Karma, a suspect and a defendant is guaranteed by law to receive treatment if they are ill.
"What we want this evening is for brother Victor Yeimo to be allowed to be treated in hospital. But this has not happened because of other considerations and they say they are following legal procedures", he said.
Because of efforts to get Yeimo treated in hospital have not borne fruit, Karma is calling on all Papuans to surrender his fate to God.
"We will cool our passionate hearts, let us rise in hymen and prayer. Myself and all of us exist not just because of power, but rather because Jesus who lived before us, today and forever. I invite us all to rise in prayer for Victor tonight, assured and trusting in Jesus to save him", said Karma.
KPHHP litigation coordinator and Yeimo's lawyer Emanuel Gobay believes that the Papua chief public prosecutor's response to Gobai and Kadepa when he met with them at his private residence was different from the court's ruling that his client receive inpatient treatment because his state of health has deteriorated while being detained at the Mobile Brigade detention centre.
"We have heard the chief public prosecutor's response. If seen from the court's ruling, there is difference in how it’s seen. What the chief public prosecutor has conveyed proves that he does not respect the judges' ruling at the Abepura Class IIA District Court. The public prosecutor has gone against the court's order", asserted Gobay.
Speaking in front of Yeimo's family and activists gathered in front of the prosecutor's private residence at 8 am, Gobay said that Yeimo's lawyers would accompany him at the next hearing on Tuesday. His guarantors, Gobai and Kadepa will also attend the hearing.
[Translated by James Balowski. Slightly abridged due to repetition. The original title of the article was "Filep Karma Heran Jaksa Masih Hambat Victor Yeimo Dirawat".]
Source: https://suarapapua.com/2021/08/29/filep-karma-heran-jaksa-masih-hambat-victor-yeimo-dirawat/
TEMPO.CO, Papua - As many as 6,000 National Police and Army (Polri-TNI) personnel were deployed to help secure the implementation of the XX National Sports Week or PON in Papua which will be held in October 2021.
The Papuan Regional Police Chief, Inspector General Mathius D. Fakhiri, said that later the Nusantara Mobil Brigade personnel would also assist.
"Thousands of personnel that we have prepared will also be divided into four regencies or cities to host the PON, namely Jayapura City, Jayapura Regency, Timika and Merauke," said Mathius in a written statement on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.
Previously, the Director of Security for Vital Objects of the Papua Regional Police, Sr. Comr. Nicolas Ari Lilipaly, stated that there would be 6,000 national police and army personnel who would secure PON XX. The thousands of personnel will secure approximately 20,000 incoming people, consisting of more than 6,000 athletes, around 3,000 officials and 9,000 more committee members.
Nicolas said that the police will, among other things, secure the arrival and return of athletes and their entourage, venues, security for the opening or closing ceremonies, as well as securing the fire and traffic lanes. "As well as securing lodging places used by athletes," he said on August 12, 2021.
Read: Papua Needs Extraordinary COVID Effort Ahead of PON: Police Chief
ANDITA RAHMA | MAUDEY K. SETYAKUSUMA (Internship)
At the meeting, Karnavian reported on developments in the formulation of two government regulations pertaining to institution and financial governance for Papua’s special autonomy, vice presidential spokesperson Masduki Baidlowi said in a written statement released on Monday.
According to Karnavian, the two draft government regulations must be endorsed no later than October 19, 2021 or three months of the enactment of Law No. 2/2021 concerning the second round of amendment to Law No. 21/2001 concerning special autonomy for Papua province, Baidlowi said.
“The newly-enacted special autonomy law needs government regulations to implement it. The deadline for the endorsement of the government regulations is three months after the enactment of the law,” he added.
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The home affairs minister has submitted the draft government regulations, which involve 33 ministries and non-ministerial government institutions, to the vice president, he informed. The draft government regulations also cover the planned proliferation of Papua province, he added.
“The home affairs minister has submitted all the draft government regulations to the vice president, including the planned proliferation of Papua province which constitutes the aspiration of Papua people,” Baidlowi said.
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At Monday's meeting, the vice president highlighted the effort to drastically reduce the poverty rate in Papua province, which has become the target of the government’s programs, he added.
Papua is among the seven Indonesian provinces targeted under the government’s program to tackle extreme poverty in 2021, he said.
“The vice president asked the home affairs minister to map extreme poverty in Papua and West Papua soon through coordination with the Papua and West Papua provincial governments,” he added.
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