Family Files Lawsuit Over Disappearance of Iptu Tomi Marbun, Highlighting Irregularities in Search Efforts
JAKARTA - The family of Iptu Tomi Samuel Marbun has filed a lawsuit at the Central Jakarta District Court regarding irregularities in the search for Tomi, who went missing while on duty in West Papua.
It is known that Tomi disappeared on 18 December 2024 while chasing an Armed Criminal Group (KKB) in Teluk Bintuni, West Papua.
“Until now, his fate remains uncertain, and the search process has been deemed full of irregularities, lacking transparency, and not demonstrating maximum efforts from the State,” said the plaintiffs’ legal representative, Martin Lukas Simanjuntak, when contacted by Kompas.com on Thursday (26/3/2026).
The family has noted several irregularities, such as the crime scene processing conducted at the so-called ‘green and yellow points’, rather than at the actual suspected drifting location.
“The failure to conduct proper and procedural crime scene processing at the ‘red point’, which is the exact location where Iptu Tomi Samuel Marbun is suspected to have drifted,” said Martin.
In addition, the family suspects that several key witnesses around the crime scene have been intimidated, leading them not to provide answers consistent with the facts.
“Although these various irregularities have been openly raised in the Public Hearing with Commission III of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR), no firm actions have been taken to order a reopening of a maximal, independent, and transparent investigation,” emphasised Martin.
In this citizen lawsuit, there are eight defendants: the President of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Prabowo Subianto as Defendant I, the Vice President of RI, Gibran Rakabuming Raka as Defendant II, the Chairman of the DPR RI, Puan Maharani as Defendant III.
Then the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs of RI, currently held by Djamari Chaniago as Defendant IV, the Chairman of Kompolnas as Defendant V, the National Police Chief General Pol Listyo Sigit Prabowo as Defendant VI, the Chairman of Komnas HAM, currently held by Anis Hidayah, as Defendant VII, and the Chairman of the Commission for the Acceleration of Police Reform of the Republic of Indonesia as Co-Defendant.
On Thursday (26/3/2026), this lawsuit has entered the courtroom for the agenda of examining the identities of the parties or legal standing. The hearing has been held three times, but not all defendants or co-defendants have attended.
“We’ll postpone it once more; if not, we’ll proceed to mediation. The hearing is postponed to Thursday, 2 April 2026,” said the chief judge while banging the gavel and closing the session at the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday.