Policeman to face trial over Papua rights abuses

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi

The indictment and dossier of the human rights violation case in Abepura, Papua province, has been handed over to the Human Rights Tribunal in Makassar, South Sulawesi province. It is the only human rights tribunal in the eastern part of Indonesia.

The 20-centimeter-thick dossier, was handed over on Wednesday by a prosecutor from the South Sulawesi Prosecutors Office, Mailan Syarief to the head of the tribunal, Andi Haedar.

The ceremony was witnessed by head of the Directorate of Gross Human Rights Violations at the Attorney General's Office, Agung I Ketut Murtika.

The indictment accused two senior police officers of committing gross human rights violations in Abepura, some 20 kilometers south of Jayapura, the capital of Papua in 2000.

They were Jayapura Police Mobile Brigade unit commander, Brig. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman and former Jayapura Municipal Police chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Daud Sihombing.

Mailan, the acting head of the Abepura ad hoc prosecution team, was optimistic that they would attend the trial. Johny is currently in Aceh, as vice commander of the Mobile Brigade troops there, while Sihombing is still head of the Papua Police Information Office.

"Both are still in active duty, in Aceh and Papua. However, they have promised us they will attend the trial," Mailan said.

Normally, when a dossier is handed over to the court, the suspects in the case have to be held under the custody of the court or the prosecutor. However, in the case of Johny and Sihombing, the prosecutors are confident that they will not attempt to flee or conceal evidence or repeat the offense as they are high ranking police officers.

The indictment stated that both suspects had violated Law No. 26/2000 on human rights violations, in particular Section 42 Article 2 as the two had not prevented or stopped their subordinate's actions, which violated human rights. They also did not hand over their subordinates to authorized officers for investigation and prosecution. The two could face a maximum jail sentence of 25 years.

According to Andi Haedar, the case would soon go to trial, because based on regulations, the case must be completed within six months. The number of witnesses has reached 98, all residing in Jayapura.

"We are ready to try this case. We have received the dossier, which means, we can now form the panel of judges," he said.

The trial has not been scheduled, as the date will be determined by the panel of judges.

The incident took place on Dec. 7, 2000. It started when 30 residents wielding sharp weapons attacked and set fire to the Abepura Police Subprecinct at about 1:30 a.m. local time.

A policeman, Sgt. First Class Petrus Eppa was killed and three other policemen wounded in the melee. In a separate attack on the Irian Jaya Autonomy office in Abepura, a security officer, Markus Padama was killed.

An hour later, at about 2:30 a.m., the Abepura Police assisted by the Jayapura Mobile Brigade pursued the perpetrators and scoured the Wamena tribe residential area in Ninmin hostel area, Kobakma Mamberamo residential area and West Wamena, Yapen Waropen hostel, the Lani tribe residential area, the Yali tribe and Anggruk in South Jayapura and the Ilaga Students Union hostel.

Police arrested and abused hundreds of residents, suspected of having been involved in the attack. Three of them were killed. Elkuis Suhunaib, 18, died instantly, while two others, Johny Karunggu, 18, and Orry Doronggi, 17, died after being tortured.