Police sued over arrest of Porsea protesters

Police sued over arrest of Porsea protesters

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

An alliance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in North
Sumatra filed a lawsuit against the police in connection with the
arrest on Thursday of 18 people who had protested the planned
reopening of pulp sawmills PT Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), demanding
the police release them unconditionally.

Erwin Nasution, coordinator of the advocacy team representing
the NGOs, including the Legal Aid Foundation in Medan and the
Environmental Forum (Walhi), said he had submitted the lawsuit to
the district court in Tarutung on Tuesday, in the hope that the
case would be processed immediately.

"The police must release 16 people who are still in detention
at North Tapanuli police station because the police have no
justification to arrest them," he told The Jakarta Post by
telephone on Tuesday.

The police arrested 18 people -- two of whom have already been
released -- when hundreds of Porsea residents staged a violent
demonstration in Sirait Uruk to protest the pulp and paper
company's reopening. The demonstration turned violent as several
demonstrators threw stones at riot police and the office of the
Porsea district chief.

Erwin said the situation in Porsea still remained tense as
hundreds of security personnel had been deployed to enhance
security around the plant's compound.

He said some of the 500 people who took refuge in Pae Radja,
Tarutung, had returned home, but others were still hiding in
forested areas to avoid being intimidated by unidentified gunmen.

"Most residents of Porsea are extremely dissatisfied, as they
have been intimidated and the government has deployed security
personnel to fight against the people for a certain businessman's
financial interests," he said.

Spokesman for the North Sumatra Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Amrin
Karim said the police were ready to face the lawsuit, saying it
was the NGOs' right to bring it and the police would continue to
process the case for court.

"We are preparing three dossiers on the 16 detainees. The case
of Musa Gurning, suspected of provoking protesters, is in the
first, while two church ministers who pelted stones at security
personnel and the office of the Porsea district chief are the
subject of the second dossier, with the remaining 13 suspects
included in the third," he said.

Meanwhile, North Sumatra legislative council called on TPL
management to meet with NGOs and Porsea residents, instead of
hiding behind the security authorities, to end the crisis.

"The repressive approach used by security authorities will not
solve the problem because the public will continue to protest
against the plant," member of the provincial legislature M.P.
Lumbang Tobing said when he received activists of the 17 NGOs
here on Tuesday.

He said TPL should demonstrate a fresh approach, especially on
social and environmental matters, to assure people in Porsea that
the pulp and paper sawmills would not damage the environment and
should establish a social development program to help improve the
social welfare of people living around the factory.

S. Leo Batubara, a member of Team-11 dealing with the
company's planned reopening, warned the Indonesian government
could risk losing US$600 million if the company, whose old name
was PT Inti Indorayon Utama (IIU), was closed down without an
audit.

The plant was established with the total capital of $600
million.

"The company's foreign shareholders could take the government
to international arbitration if the company were closed down
without good reason.

"The company should be allowed to resume operations, following
which it could be audited after a certain time to evaluate
whether the company was polluting the environment or not," he
said.

The company could be taken to court and closed down if proven
guilty, he added.