Andrie Yunus Attacked with Acid After Completing Remilitarism Podcast at YLBHI
JAKARTA — Andrie Yunus, deputy coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), became a victim of an acid attack on Jalan Salemba I in central Jakarta on Thursday, 12 March 2026, just before midnight. The violent act is regarded as a threat to democracy, given that the victim is known as a human rights advocate.
Kontras coordinator Dimas Bagus Arya stated that the incident occurred after Andrie returned from the offices of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). That evening, Andrie had just completed a podcast recording at YLBHI’s offices.
“The incident occurred shortly after Andrie Yunus finished recording a podcast at YLBHI offices titled ‘Remilitarism and Judicial Review in Indonesia’, which concluded at approximately 23:00 WIB,” he said in a statement on Friday, 13 March 2026.
Dimas stated that Andrie has long been a human rights defender who has conducted work promoting and protecting human rights. Just that Thursday afternoon, Andrie had attended a meeting discussing follow-up actions to an investigative report by the Fact-Finding Commission regarding a mass action in August 2025 at Celios Office.
He revealed that this is not the first time Andrie has experienced interference in his work as a human rights defender. According to him, the victim had previously experienced several instances of terror and intimidation, particularly following the “Fairmount Siege” action in rejection of the draft TNI law in March 2025.
“This incident must immediately receive widespread attention from various parties, including law enforcement agencies and civil society,” he said.
Andrie was attacked with acid by unknown perpetrators at approximately 23:37 WIB. As a result, the victim sustained serious injuries across his body, particularly on both hands, face, chest, and eyes. From medical examination results, Andrie suffered burns covering 24 per cent of his body.
From Kontras’s report, the incident began when Andrie was riding his own two-wheeled vehicle on Jalan Salemba I-Talang in central Jakarta. Two perpetrators then approached him on a two-wheeled vehicle, suspected to be a 2016 to 2021 Honda Beat automatic motorcycle.
The perpetrators were two men who carried out the operation using a single motorcycle, with one acting as the driver and the other as a passenger.
The first perpetrator, who was the driver, wore a white-blue combination shirt, dark trousers believed to be jeans, and a black helmet. The second perpetrator, the rear passenger, wore a face covering or mask resembling a black buff that covered half the face, a dark blue shirt, and blue trousers folded to appear shorter, believed to be made of denim.
One of the perpetrators then sprayed acid towards the victim, hitting parts of the victim’s body. As a result of the attack, the victim immediately screamed in pain and dropped his motorcycle. The victim was subsequently taken to hospital.
Based on the medical examination results, no personal belongings of the victim were found to be missing or seized either at the time of the incident or after it occurred.