ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-047-2009
13 May 2009
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INDONESIA: Indigenous Papuans are shot by police and denied proper medical treatmentISSUES: Police assault; detainees' right to medical treatment; excessive use of force
------------------------------------------------------Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that two indigenous Papuans have died and three others have been injured after the unrestrained use of lethal fire arms by the Mobile Brigadier (Brimob) Unit of Papua Regional Police on 9 April 2009 in Abepura, Papua, Indonesia. The wounded were arrested and taken to a hospital, but reports allege that they did not receive proper medical treatment, resulting in the death of one.
CASE DETAILS: (based on facts gathered by local NGOs)
On Thursday 9 April 2009, the day of the legislative elections in Indonesia, several security posts had been set up along the road in Abepura, Papua, to safeguard the electoral process. According to reports an unknown group of about 100 indigenous Papuan people gathered and approached the Abepura Circle, shouting protests. Seven members of Mobile Brigades of the National Police (BRIMOB) were watching over the election booths (TPS) with other local officers and opened fire directly into the crowd, from about 70 metres away. The protestors ran westwards but one unknown man was killed onsite and four more were injured. The police arrested five from the group, and while leaving the scene the remaining protestors, clearly distraught, burnt three motorcycles parked in Sekolah Street.
One victim, Erik Logo, sustained a bullet wound to the left side of his stomach and was taken to the Dok II Jayapura District Hospital (RSUD) that same afternoon. It is reported that the bullet was removed in surgery that evening, but neither religious representatives nor human rights activists were allowed to visit him in the hospital despite concerns about his treatment there. On April 22 he died at the hospital and access to his corpse was denied.
Among the other five arrested protesters, Johny Hisage and Kanitius Hisage were not reported to have been injured; Yance Yogobi’s left shoulder was wounded; Dini Agobi sustained injuries to his right knee and Andi Gobay, to his left ankle. The three wounded arrestees were brought to the same district hospital one day later on April 10. It is reported that Yance Yagobe remained handcuffed until his surgery a week later (on April 17) and that no one was allowed to visit him, including his family.
Despite being informed that a protest would take place in Abepura on April 9, the police took no apparent steps to diffuse the situation – which they have since described as an attack – peacefully, nor did they apply any measure of caution to the protestors. The excessive use of rapid gunfire resulted in two men dying, and has heightened the great tension that already infuses the election period in Papua.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Several incidents of violence and protest in West Papua were reported during April 2009, including killings, arrests and the discovery of bombs in several places. However there is no evidence available to support the media reports, which blame the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Preliminary investigations on the ground point instead to third party players who could benefit from instability in West Papua.
Religious leaders and human rights activists have been striving to ease the increasing polarisation between indigenous Papuans and transmigrants from other parts of Indonesia. While the public is suffering from unpredictable security conditions, the security forces, including the military, appear to be playing a disturbing and ambiguous role, rather than addressing the tensions. While their actions do maintain public order at times, unnecessary violence in numerous other cases has stirred up anxiety and aggression in the public, which has become a major theme in the nationwide elections. Indonesians worry that April’s incidents were arranged to serve political agendas in the ongoing election campaign in the rest of the country.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send your letters to the authorities listed below to call for an impartial investigation into the excessive use of force by the police and the mobile brigades, and request that the victims of the shooting receive proper medical treatment and access to their families.
To support this appeal please click here:
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear __________,
INDONESIA: Indigenous Papuans are shot by police and denied proper medical treatment - Sem Karoba's Posterous
June 05, 2010
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