Surabaya City Police have released 14 of the 24 people arrested in\nthe wake of the #IndonesiaSekarat protest in front of the Grahadi State\nBuilding on Friday (24\/6). The remaining 10 are still undergoing legal\nproceedings. Four individuals have been named as suspects, while six\nothers tested positive for drugs.<\/p>\n
Surabaya Police Chief Commissioner Luthfie Sulistiawan stated that\nthe 14 were released because the evidence against them is still pending\nanalysis of communication devices or mobile phones seized by the police.\n\u201cWe have sent these 14 home for now because, in terms of evidence, we\nare still waiting for the results of the analysis of their communication\ndevices. At this time, there are no criminal elements we can charge them\nwith to fulfil the criminal elements,\u201d Luthfie said at the Surabaya\nPolice Headquarters on Sunday (28\/6).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the four suspects, identified as MA, ARF, NB, and DSD,\nhave been detained and charged with vandalism and resisting officers,\nwhich carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison. \u201cHowever, these\nfour people have been named as suspects for vandalism and assaulting\nofficers, with a penalty of five years, so we have detained them,\u201d he\nstated.<\/p>\n
Luthfie explained that the four suspects came to the location after\nbeing influenced by social media posts, particularly from an Instagram\naccount with the initials BA. Suspect MA reportedly joined the action\nafter seeing a post on the account inviting Surabaya residents to take\nto the streets. \u201cThere was an invitation saying, \u2018Let\u2019s play football,\nand watch the demo.\u2019 This suspect was interested and then came to the\nlocation,\u201d he said. Suspect ARF also reportedly saw a similar post on\nthe BA Instagram account before becoming involved in revving motorcycle\nengines in front of the Grahadi building to provoke the crowd and\nthrowing stones at officers. Suspect NB claimed to have been provoked\nafter watching a TikTok live stream on a friend\u2019s phone, while suspect\nDSD had reportedly been following the BA Instagram account since the\nAugust 2025 riots. On the day of the incident, DSD saw a digital\npamphlet on the account and invited a friend to go to the location.<\/p>\n
Luthfie stressed that, based on initial statements, the suspects\nclaimed they did not come as part of any particular group or alliance\nbut were provoked by social media invitations. \u201cWe are continuing to\ninvestigate whether this is true or if they are actually groups involved\nin organising yesterday\u2019s action,\u201d he said. In terms of background, the\nfour suspects are not students. Luthfie mentioned they work as employees\nand labourers from the Surabaya and Gresik areas.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Luthfie said six other people tested positive for\nmethamphetamine use. This was revealed when police conducted urine tests\non all the detained protesters. They are currently undergoing assessment\nwith the Surabaya City National Narcotics Agency (BNN). \u201cWe are\nprocessing these six people for drug offences, as their urine tests\nproved positive for methamphetamine. We are processing this in\ncooperation with the Surabaya City BNN for assessment,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile\nwe investigate the mobile phones they were carrying, this is still in\nprocess, and the results will serve as a basis for potentially\nuncovering networks or finding other things correlated with the\nprovocateurs or other groups. We will continue to investigate this,\u201d he\nadded.<\/p>\n
The coordinator of the Surabaya branch of the Commission for Missing\nPersons and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Fatkhul Khoir, confirmed that\nmost of the 24 people detained at the Surabaya Police Headquarters had\nbeen sent home. However, he noted an inconsistency in the statements\nmade by the police. \u201cOn Saturday (27\/6) afternoon, the Police Chief and\nthe Criminal Investigation Unit Head told all the detainees and their\nattending parents that everyone would be released on guarantee. But then\nin the evening, that changed. There was an inconsistency,\u201d Fatkhul said.\nHe revealed that KontraS is assisting one individual with the status of\na child in conflict with the law, a 16-year-old who was about to enrol\nin senior high school. The child is now placed in a shelter belonging to\nthe P3A Agency, rather than being returned to their parents as initially\npromised. Regarding access to legal assistance, Fatkhul said KontraS\nfaced no obstacles when entering the Surabaya Police Headquarters. He\nstated that his team was welcomed by two investigators from the Criminal\nInvestigation Unit and allowed in to collect data.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Head of the Advocacy and Campaign Division of the\nSurabaya Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Ramli Himawan, confirmed that as of\nSaturday night, some of the 24 people who contacted the LBH hotline had\nbeen released. The detailed distribution of their legal statuses is\nstill being traced. \u201cOf the 24 people who contacted the LBH Surabaya\nhotline, some have been released. We are still tracing the details,\u201d\nRamli said. He also stated that LBH Surabaya was obstructed when trying\nto provide legal assistance to the dozens of #IndonesiaSekarat\nprotesters detained at the Surabaya Police Headquarters. The obstruction\nlasted from Friday (26\/6) evening until Saturday (27\/6) afternoon. The\nLBH Surabaya legal team arrived at the police headquarters around 10\np.m. WIB on Friday to ascertain the whereabouts of the demonstrators and\nprovide legal aid. However, access for lawyers to meet directly with the\ndetained citizens was not granted quickly and effectively until Saturday\nat 5 p.m. WIB.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-release-14-surabaya-protesters-four-named-as-suspects-1782654744", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }