Rights body to reopen past cases

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