Papuan leaders want rights findings revealed

Papuan leaders want rights findings revealed

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

Papuan religious leaders have urged the National Commission on
Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to reveal the findings of its probe
into alleged human rights violations by soldiers and police in
the troubled province.

They wrote to Komnas HAM to convey the demand for it to
announce its findings of possible gross human rights abuses
during two bloody incidents in Wasior in 2001 and Wamena in 2003.

Komnas HAM chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara confirmed on
Friday he had received the letter, in which the religious leaders
insisted that Papuan people had the right to know the content of
the probe results.

"Komnas held an investigation in the interests of the public,
and we religious leaders in Papua ask for formal explanations of
its outcome," said the letter, a copy of which was made available
to The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The letter was signed by Papua's Indonesian Communion of
Churches (PGI) chairman Herman Saud, Jayapura Bishop Leo Laba
Ladjar, local Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) head Zubeir
Hussein, Hindu leader I Nyoman Suda and Buddhist leader Arya
Bodhi.

Komnas HAM set up an investigative team in November 2003 based
on preliminary findings that soldiers and police committed
extrajudicial killings and torture against civilians in the
regencies of Wamena and Wasior.

In Wamena, at least seven Papuans were killed, 48 tortured and
some 7,000 others, forced to flee, when soldiers raided their
villages after separatist rebels broke into an Army armory on
April 4, 2003 and stole 29 rifles.

Police were also blamed for the deaths of at least three
people, the torture of 16 others and the torching of several
houses in Wasior, as members of the police's Mobile Brigade
(Brimob) launched sweeps there.

The incident took place on June 13, 2001 after a group of
rebels attacked a logging company, guarded by Brimob. The raids
lasted for two months.

Komnas HAM member Anshari Thayib, who led the investigative
team, said his office would divulge the results of the probe that
was conducted for four-and-a-half months, including several weeks
in Papua.

"We are now concluding the final report of the investigation
and will submit it to the Komnas HAM office by the end of this
month," he told the Post.

If the findings are considered valid by a Komnas plenary
meeting next month, the report will be presented to the Attorney
General's Office for a follow-up, Anshari said.

"The investigation involved dozens of witnesses, both
civilians and military personnel. The military was very
cooperative as all witnesses were able to be questioned," he
added.

The probe was preceded by a one-week preliminary inquiry in
Papua from Sept. 8, 2003. Komnas HAM set up the investigative
team in November.

Before commencing with the investigation, the commission
reported the plan to President Megawati Soekarnoputri and
announced the establishment of the team at the State Palace.