Trial of Freeport ambush libel case opens in Jayapura
Trial of Freeport ambush libel case opens in Jayapura
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua
The trial opened on Wednesday of human rights activists and
journalists charged with libel in connection with reports that
Army Special Forces (Kopassus) soldiers were involved in killing
two Americans and one Indonesian in Papua province.
The defendants include the director of Papua's Institute for
Human Rights Studies and Advocacy (Els-HAM), Yohanis G. Bonay,
and his colleague John Rumbiak, as well as the chief editors of
Tempo weekly news magazine and the Suara Karya daily.
Both the Jakarta-based Tempo and Suara Karya have been charged
with corporate libel.
Only five of the 10 lawyers acting for Bonay attended the
opening session of the trial, which was presided over by Judge
F.X. Soegiharto, accompanied by Judges Yunus Sesa and Ebo
Maulana.
Kopassus was represented by six lawyers appointed by the
Trikora military command, which is responsible for security in
Papua.
The 20-minute hearing was to examine procedural requirements
on the parts of both the plaintiffs and the defendants. The panel
of judges adjourned the hearing for more than one month until
Sept. 25, 2003, as most of the five defendants had failed to show
up.
The trial has attracted much attention from both the local
press and community here. Dozens of Els-HAM supporters packed the
courtroom.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) filed a civil suit against the
Els-HAM and the two publications, alleging that they had accused
Kopassus members of involvement in the killing of two American
teachers and one Indonesian on Aug. 31, 2002.
The three victims, who were shot dead by a group of well-armed
and apparently well-trained gunmen, were employees of the U.S.-
owned Freeport Indonesia copper and gold mine in Tembagapura,
Papua, one of the largest in the world.
The military immediately attempted to pin the blame for the
attack on a faction of the Free Papua Organization (OPM)
separatist group led by Kelly Kwalik.
The attack took place at Mile 63, an area near the Freeport
compound which was supposed to have been tightly guarded by
soldiers.
The libel action, submitted to the Jayapura District Court on
June 13, 2003, resulted from a media conference in Jakarta on
Sept. 25 last year, in which Rumbiak described what he said was
the role of Kopassus soldiers in the ambush.
Els-HAM, however, has denied accusing the Kopassus troops of
being responsible for the incident, but said that Rumbiak was
only disclosing information his group had obtained from local
people regarding the attack.
Trikora Military Commander Maj. Gen. Nurdin Zainal has
dismissed the accusations as "baseless", and said they were
designed to tarnish the image of the TNI.
The military is suing the defendants for Rp 50 billion (US$5.8
million) in non-material losses and Rp 1 million in material
losses.
The plaintiffs are demanding that the defendants be ordered to
apologize publicly through the national and international media,
the military added.