Free Papua Movement Army General dies

Jayapura, Papuan Province, Indonesia – 18 December, 2013

The death of General Danny Kogoya of the National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Movement (TPN / OPM) on 14 December 2013 in the border town of Vanimo PNG was not a natural death but rather a death caused by a scenario that was created by the Indonesian Armed Forces.

On 2 October 2012 Kogoya was invited by someone to meet them at the Banana Leaves Hotel in Entrop, Jayapura. Once there he and his companions were besieged by Indonesian Armed Forces who shot and disabled Kogoya by shooting one of his feet., even though he had shown no resistance and had no intention of fleeing.

His foot was amputated at the Police Hospital Bayangkara without being allowed to have a family member present. Only a few days after the operation he was taken to the Police District Command Headquarters to undergo interrogation, despite having just experienced a most traumatising injury followed by a major operation. Throughout the time he was held by the Armed Forces he did not receive adequate medical attention.

When taken before the court an almost unheard of situation occurred, with the extension of time for Kogoya and his companions’ cases to be processed as applied for by the public attorney, actually expiring before the judges had reached their decision. With the result that Kogoya and his companions were released under the law on 10 May 2013, even though they had been previously charged under the extremely serious charge of treason (makar).

Following their release, Kogoya fled over the border to the town of Vanimo in PNG to seek safety and treatment for his foot. According to the General Chairperson of the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB) Victor Yeimo, the results of the medical examination at the Vanimo Public Hospital showed remaining symptoms suggestive of possible poisoning. This has led to suspicions by some that Kogoya may have been intentionally given a highly toxic chemical at the time his foot was amputated at the Indonesian Armed Forces hospital, that has such an effect on the body organs that it kills the body slowly (1). Finally on 14 December General Kogoya died due to the combined causes of an infection of his amputation wound as well as kidney failure.

The Indonesian Armed Forces clearly did not want Kogoya to die in custody which would have attracted attention. The circumstances point to the Armed Forces having interfered with the matter of the legal provision for an extension of time a person can be detained up to the time the court passes sentence. As it is suspected that the processing of Kogoya and his companions cases in the Jayapura court were intentionally delayed so that the period they could be legally detained would expire before the panel of judges had handed down criminal sentences. Thereby creating a scenario whereby the prisoners would be released avoiding General Kogoya dying in custody.

It is a rare occurrence indeed for Papuans who have been arrested and accused of treason, to be subsequently released due to the expiry of the period approved by the courts for them to be detained before there is a sentence handed down by the courts. Usually if the time approved is about to expire or has just expired and the judges still haven’t handed down their decision, the authorities and the prison authorities work together to arrange an further extension of time. In the instance of the late Eko Berotabui and his associates for example in 2006 when the period he could be detained prior to the courts ruling had expired and the family and lawyers were pressuring for his release, the prison and authorities worked together to issue a new document extending the period he could be detained. Similar circumstances also arose in the case of Filep Karma and associates in 2005 with the prison and authorities working together to detain him on the stated basis of awaiting the decision regarding criminal cases. However in the case of Danny Kogoya there was distinctly something else going on.

It is strongly suspected that the Indonesian authorities created a set of circumstances to hide their covert killing of the Papuan independence warrior General Danny Kogoya. This is not the first time the Papuan community has seen such methods applied to hide the Indonesian Armed Foces killing of Papuan liberation warriors. Such means are extremely cruel and amount to a most evil inhumane act against a human being.

The organisation Front PEPERA:
1. Demands that the Republic of Indonesia (RI) take responsibility for the death of General Danny Kogoya.
2. Demands that RI cease killing indigenous Papuans by both overt and cover means.
3. Calls on the International Solidarity community to lobby RI and the United Nations to treat exhaustively the problem of the legal and political status of West Papua.

ENDS

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