Rights body to reopen past cases

JAYAPURA, Papua: A member of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Enny Soeprapto, said on Tuesday past human rights cases would be reopened and prosecuted and processed in accordance with current laws.

She said the rights body had decided to reopen investigations into a number of incidents, including the bloody takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters on July 27, 1996, the Semanggi I and II killings, the Trisakti shootings, the Tanjung Priok shootings, the Kedung Ngombo project, the killing of labor activist Marsinah and the murder of Papua independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay.

"The reopening of these cases was decided during a special plenary meeting in October in Jakarta," Enny was quoted by Antara as saying in Jayapura, Papua, on Tuesday.

She appealed to the public to assist Komnas HAM in investigating human rights abuses and prosecuting them in accordance with the law.

Enny acknowledged that people's had lost faith in the commission because of its failure to resolve numerous human rights abuse cases satisfactorily, which, according to her, was partly due to government intervention.

"In the future, Komnas HAM will work more independently in accordance with Law No. 26/1999," she said. --Antara