2) Update on detention of two Papuans arrested after shooting in Yahukimo – Police obstruct lawyers from meeting with suspects
3) Indonesian Army Apologizes After Torture Video Goes Viral
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1) UN rights panel concerned by extrajudicial killings in Indonesia's Papua
UPDATED MAR 28, 2024, 09:45 PM
GENEVA - The U.N. Human Rights Committee said on Thursday it was concerned by extrajudicial killings in Indonesia's Papua province, where separatists and Indonesian troops have been fighting for decades.
"The Committee is concerned by multiple reports of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of indigenous peoples in Papua, which have not been investigated despite the state party's commitment to do so," it said in a report.
The Committee said it welcomed a Supreme Court decision to uphold the conviction of six law enforcement officers for the premeditated murder of four Papuan people in the city of Timika, but stressed there was a lack of information on other cases.
The Committee recommended that Indonesia promptly investigates "all human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, and extrajudicial killings..."
It also called on Indonesia "to strengthen efforts to end impunity and hold perpetrators accountable for previous violations".
Resource-rich Papua, Indonesia's easternmost region, has experienced violence between armed separatists and troops since the former Dutch territory was brought under Indonesian control in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969.
The conflict has escalated significantly since 2018, with pro-independence fighters mounting deadlier and more frequent attacks. REUTERS
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Human Rights Monitor
The Papuan Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua) has raised concerns over the denial of legal assistance to Melianus Baye and Benny Elopere, two minors detained by the Papua Regional Police (Polda Papua) on suspicion of involvement in an aircraft shooting incident in the Yahukimo Regency.
Military members arbitrarily arrested the minors (see photo on top, source) while bathing in the Brazza River in
Dekai District, Yahukimo Regency, on 22 February 2024, shortly after an armed clash with a resistance fighter of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). Human rights defenders allege that the minors were tortured upon arrest, as photos indicate.
Despite being appointed as legal counsel by the families of the detainees, LBH Papua advocates were repeatedly denied access to meet with Melianus Baye and Benny Elopere by the investigators from the Papua Police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigation and General Crimes. The investigators reportedly still denied access as the suspects’ relatives accompanied LBH lawyers. The denial of access undermines the fundamental right to legal representation during detention, as enshrined in international human rights standards and Indonesia’s Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP).
Emanuel Gobay, Director of LBH Papua, highlighted the obstruction faced by their advocates, emphasizing the discriminatory treatment in contrast to previous cases where access to detainees was granted without hindrance. The obstruction raises concerns about the transparency and fairness of the legal process. Such actions not only violate the detainees’ right to legal support but also impede their ability to defend themselves against the accusations leveled against them effectively. Moreover, the denial of access for lawyers could be a strategy to cover up acts of physical torture during detention.
Background
Statistical figures indicate that the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and treatment remains a widespread practice among the police and military in West Papua. Accordingly, the eradication of torture and ill-treatment remains among the urgent human rights issues in West Papua.
Another
case of torture in West Papua has recently drawn national attention to the problem of torture in West Papua after videos of Indonesian soldiers torturing an indigenous Papuan went viral on social media, causing public outrage. The footage is rare visual evidence of the utmost brutality used by security force members during raids in conflict areas across West Papua.
Similar to extra-judicial executions, the widespread use of torture and ill-treatment is closely linked to the problem of impunity, particularly for perpetrators of the police, who are rarely brought to justice in public civil court trials. Human rights education programs for police officers and military members appear not to be able to tackle this problem as long as perpetrators receive lenient imprisonment sentences and disciplinary sanctions in closed internal procedures.
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Human Rights Watch
March 28, 2024 1:38PM EDT | Dispatches
3) Indonesian Army Apologizes After Torture Video Goes Viral
Thirteen Soldiers Detained for Brutal Beating of Papuan Man
Andreas Harsono Indonesia Researcher
andreasharsono andreasharsono
The Indonesian military apologized to “all Papuan people” and detained 13 soldiers from an elite battalion in West Java who had tortured a Papuan man in Gome, Central Papua. A video posted to social media shows three soldiers in army undershirts brutally beating Definus Kogoya, a young Papuan man, who had his hands tied behind him and been placed inside a drum filled with water. The soldiers taunted Kogoya with racist slurs, kicking and hitting him. In another video, a man used a bayonet to cut his back. The water turned red.
The army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Kristomei Sianturi, said the soldiers had “tarnished efforts to handle conflict” in Central Papua, adding that the military police had questioned 42 soldiers of the 300 Infantry Raider Battalion, and identified at least 13 suspects.
General Sianturi alleged that Kogoya was a member of the West Papua National Liberation Army and had been arrested on February 3 with two other Papuan men, Alianus Murib and Warinus Kogoya, after they had allegedly tried to burn down a medical clinic in Gome. He said Warinus Kogoya died when he jumped from a military vehicle after arrest.
Kogoya and Murib were handed over to police custody by the battalion on February 6. The police immediately released the two men as they had found no evidence of arson or other violent acts. Both men needed medical treatment.
On March 21, Benny Wenda, a West Papua leader in exile in the United Kingdom, posted the video, saying, “Torture is such a widespread military practice that it has been described as a ‘mode of governance’ in West Papua.”
Human Rights Watch has documented numerous accounts of torture from West Papua over the past two decades including some that were filmed and later made public. Several soldiers have been prosecuted but received light punishment.
Some Indonesian officials have blamed Papuan militants when confronted with torture allegations.
While there is an ongoing armed conflict in Central Papua – in May 2023, an Indonesian soldier was fatally shot – international law forbids torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of civilians or captured combatants in custody.
To end such abuses, Indonesian authorities should prosecute the alleged perpetrators in civilian courts. The Indonesian military justice system lacks independence, impartiality, and transparency.
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