25 Irian Jaya officers implicated in rights abuses

25 Irian Jaya officers implicated in rights abuses

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) on Thursday submitted to the Attorney General's Office the
names of 25 Irian Jaya police officers who were allegedly
responsible for physically abusing and torturing civilians
following a mob attack on a police station last year

Head of the investigating team Albert Hasibuan refused to name
the suspects in compliance with Law No. 26/2000 on human rights
tribunals, but he alleged that the 25 officers were responsible
for the arrest and torture of more than 90 Irianese residents and
students.

"This case constitutes a gross violation of human rights and
should be prosecuted under the rights' tribunal law rather than
under the Criminal Code," he said.

The alleged violations claimed the lives of three students --
two died in the Jayapura police station while one was shot dead
during his arrest.

Two other victims had suffered permanent physical injuries as
a result of the police action, he told a media briefing at the
Attorney General's Office.

The inquiry grouped the alleged perpetrators of the violations
into three categories: those who directly conducted the arrests
and abused the prisoners, those who were responsible for the
operation, and those who were responsible for order and security
in Jayapura.

The first category involved 21 police officers and members of
the police's elite brigade mobile.

The other four suspects were high-ranking police officers in
Irian Jaya who should be held responsible for the incident as
they were in command, the inquiry's executive summary stated.

The inquiry started its work on Feb. 5 and completed it on May
5 after questioning 51 victims, 29 police officers and 10 mobile
brigade personnel involved in the case.

During the visit to the Attorney General's Office, Hasibuan
was accompanied by other commission executives, including
chairman Djoko Soegianto, vice chairman Saparinah Sadli and
secretary-general Asmara Nababan, together with the secretary of
the Irian Jaya inquiry, Sriyana.

The group was received by Attorney General Marzuki Darusman,
the office's chief human rights' investigator M.A. Rachman and
his secretary Umar Bawazier.

The case took place in the early hours of Dec. 7, following a
mob attack on Abepura police station which killed a policeman and
badly injured three others.

A shop in front of the police station was also set ablaze and
a security guard was found slashed to death two kilometers from
the police station.

Police believed that the mob were Wamena residents who had
come down from the mountainous areas of the Baliem valley in
central Irian Jaya. The police then launched a search for those
involved in the attack in three student dormitories and three
residential complexes mostly occupied by people from Wamena,
according to the inquiry.

Those arrested during the police operation were detained for a
night without a warrant and all of them were released the next
day as the police failed to find any evidence of their
involvement in the attack.

Hasibuan assumed that the attack was related to the police's
lowering of the Morning Star, the Papuan separatist flag, on Dec.
1 after it had been hoisted to commemorate what the Irianese
claim is their independence day.

The inquiry also uncovered two documents on a special police
operation to curb the separatist movement which depicted a
systematic and well-organized campaign of human rights abuse,
with victims being tortured because of their religion and race,
and some being sexually assaulted. (bby)