Kontras, LBH to sue rights body

Kontras, LBH to sue rights body

JAKARTA: The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM)
is facing legal action for allegedly giving false information to
the public on last January's murderous ethnic conflict in Central
Kalimantan.

The suit will be jointly filed by the Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), and the Legal Aid
Institute (LBH) of Jakarta.

Komnas HAM, in a report on its investigation into the pogrom
perpetrated by indigenous Dayaks on Madurese migrants in Sampit,
Central Kalimantan, concluded that there had been no gross
violation of human rights.

Ori Rahman of Kontras and Erna Ratnaningsih of the LBH said in
a joint statement that Komnas HAM had condoned the killing and
torture of Madurese people, and their eviction from Central
Kalimantan.

"Komnas HAM has accorded impunity to those guilty of crimes
against humanity, and therefore has become implicated in the
crime," they said in the statement.

Thousands of people, mostly Madurese, were killed in bloody
attacks in January. --JP