12 Civilians Tortured By Security Forces? - Komnas HAM

Bintang Papua, 6 November 2011

Twelve civilians in Kurulu, Jayawijaya are thought to have been tortured by members of the security forces on 2 November 2011 in violation of legal procedures., said Matius Murib, the deputy chairman of Komnas HAM Papua branch, in a statement to Bintang Papua.

He said that the commander in chief of Cenderawasih Military Command, Major-General Eri Triassunu investigated members of the security forces who are thought to have committed these acts of torture, for them to explain the reasons for the torture to the victims and the general public.

Such behaviour fails to respect human dignity and violates human rights and is not in compliance with calls to put an end to violence in Papua. All parties should choose the path of peace and dialogue as the way to solve the problems.

The head of public relations of the Cenderawasih military command, Colonel Ali Hamdan Bogra was asked to confirm that these acts of torture were perpetrated by members of the TNI security forces but he refused to respond..

Meanwhile, Buchtar Tabuni of the central executive of the KNPB told journalists on 4 November that these acts of torture by the TNI had occurred in Kurima Kampung on 2 October 2011

The torture was preceded by cheap provocations from the TNI Battalion 756 saying that a TPN group in Umapagalo Kampung had held a meeting with the people of Kampung Umapagalo. After hearing about this meeting, the military commander organised a sweeping operation. During this operation, further acts of torture occurred.

According to Bucktar Tabuni, the KNPB sent a report about the torture perpetrated by the TNI, along with photos of the victims to the central committee of the KNPB as well as sending it to the media.

After listing the names of the twelve victims, the KNPB said that these acts of violence were accompanied by screams of abuse and the victims were beaten with wooden truncheons, kicked with heavy army boots and threatened with rifle butts as well as gunshots.

A report of these acts of violence by the TNI against the twelve civilians was then submitted to the police in Kuruku but the police refused to accept it, saying that the operation had failed to conform with legal procedures.

According to Buchtar and Mako Tabuni, the victims of this incident intend to submit this case to the district court in Wamena.

A spokesperson for Buchtar and Mako declared that the Cenderawasih military commander should accept responsibility for the actions of his men in Kostrad 755/Kurulu. He said: From now onwards, we will not accept any attacks against the civilian population in the Land of Papua because these activities by the Indonesian military are acts of subversion (makar) in which members of the community were attacked by members of the state apparatus without there having been any acts of resistance by the local communities.

ENDS

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