LBH Papua: Attack on Andrie Threatens Human Rights Advocacy Space
The Director of the Legal Aid Institute of Papua Merauke, Teddy Wakum, has strongly condemned the caustic soda attack against Andrie Yunus, Deputy Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS). Wakum views the attack as serious intimidation against human rights advocacy work.
Teddy stated that the attack on Andrie cannot be regarded as ordinary criminal conduct. The timing of the incident, the context of the victim’s activism, and the pattern of targeted assault indicate strong evidence that the act was carried out to terrorise and silence critical voices of human rights defenders.
“We even regard this as part of a premeditated assassination plan against our brother Andrie Yunus and certainly as a serious threat to human rights defenders throughout Indonesia,” Teddy said in a press statement on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.
Andrie suffered the attack when unknown assailants threw caustic soda on him whilst he was passing along Jalan Salemba in central Jakarta on the evening of Thursday, 12 March 2026. The attack occurred after Andrie had conducted a podcast broadcast at the office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI). Andrie sustained burns covering 24 per cent of his body and is currently receiving treatment at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in central Jakarta.
Teddy believes the incident demonstrates an increasingly alarming security situation for human rights defenders in Indonesia. Should the state again fail to identify the perpetrators and intellectual authors behind the attack, he warned, it would reinforce public suspicion of a strong culture of impunity within the law enforcement system.
LBH Papua Merauke has urged President Prabowo Subianto to order law enforcement officials to immediately apprehend and prosecute all perpetrators of the terror attack against Andrie. The organisation has also called on the National Police Chief and Military Commander to instruct their subordinates to work swiftly and professionally to uncover the motives behind the assault.
Furthermore, LBH Papua Merauke has requested the Minister of Human Rights to ensure that law enforcement officials act quickly and appropriately in handling the case. They have also called on the National Human Rights Commission, together with the Witness and Victim Protection Agency, to provide special protection for Andrie Yunus in accordance with the National Human Rights Commission Regulation Number 5 of 2015 concerning procedures for the protection of human rights defenders.