Rights commission protests intervention into Abepura inquiry
Rights commission protests intervention into Abepura inquiry
JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) protested on Wednesday the intervention of the Irian Jaya
provincial office of the justice and human rights ministry and
the police in its inquiry into the Abepura incident, saying such
interference was "an obstruction to justice".
Head of the commission's inquiry team, Albert Hasibuan, said
the police had summoned and questioned all the witnesses and
victims of the raid on the police station which occurred on Dec.
7 at Abepura district and which claimed the lives of at least
three students.
"The police questioning of them, which took place following
our inquiry, disrupted the legal proceedings because the
witnesses and the victims were scared and felt intimidated, since
the police often visited their residences.
"We demand the National Police chief instruct the Irian Jaya
police chief to stop the intimidation," he told the press.
Hasibuan said that the Rights Tribunal Law No. 26/2000
authorized the commission to conduct the inquiry into the human
rights violations in Abepura.
"We're only obliged to inform the Attorney General's Office
about our inquiry," he said.
The inquiry is slated to be completed in the middle of April
and will be filed as the first case to be tried by a rights
tribunal in the country.
The trial will be held in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
Hasibuan also questioned the authority of the provincial
office of the justice and human rights ministry, which gave a
legal opinion on the human rights aspects of the inquiry. It
advised the Irian Jaya police deputy chief not to fulfill the
commission's summons, since the office regarded the Abepura
incident as an ordinary crime.
He said the office's head, Arrongear, had questioned the
legality of the commission's work because it had not obtained his
permission.
Such a permission was not really necessary, Hasibuan said.
Just before dawn on Dec. 7, a mob attacked Abepura police
station. Three people, including two policemen, were killed
during the assault.
According to the police, the mob was believed to be Wamena
residents who had come down from the mountainous areas of the
Baliem valley in central Irian Jaya.
Hasibuan assumed that the attack was connected with the police
having enforced the lowering of the Morning Star, Papua's
separatist flag on Dec. 1, hoisted to commemorate the
independence day claimed by the Irianese.
Hasibuan said that in response to the attack, the police
"arbitrarily" raided three students' dormitories in Jayapura. The
raid claimed the lives of three students while about 100 people,
mostly students, were detained.
"From the police officers' testimonies, it was disclosed that
the students had been badly beaten... One of the deceased, Elkius
Suhiad, a high school student, was shot in the head," Hasibuan
said.
On the next day the police released those who were detained
because they were not involved with the attack.
"The police had unjustifiably detained innocent people and had
violated their human rights," Hasibuan added.
The inquiry team questioned 60 witnesses and victims and 14
police officers, including former Irian Jaya police chief Brig.
Gen. S.Y. Wenas. (bby)