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)