Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – On Wednesday some 100 people, calling themselves the Papua Human Rights Awareness Coalition, commemorated the seventh anniversary of the death of Theys Hiyo Eluay, leader of the Papua Presidium Council, who was killed by government forces on Nov. 10, 2002.

The crowd, led by Buchtar Tabuni, staged a rally at the Papua Provincial Legislative Council building after traveling from Abepura city. Earlier, they marched to the Theys Hiyo Eluay memorial, where they removed a garbage bin which had been placed there.

"Why has a garbage bin been placed at the memorial of a Papuan freedom fighter," yelled someone, followed by jeers from others. They rolled the bin in to a ravine. The crowd then marched to the legislative council office in Jayapura while chanting "Freedom for Papua".

"Theys was killed, but other Theysus live on, like me and all Papuans, who will rise and fight for our freedom," exclaimed Buchtar.

For Buchtar and other Papuans, Theys was a freedom fighter, despite being branded as a traitor by the government, due to his wish to withdraw Papua from the unitary state of Indonesia.

Theys was shot and killed by elite Kopassus military troops on Nov. 10, 2002, as he returned from the Kopassus command station in Hamadi, Jayapura, to commemorate National Heroes Day. However, his body was not found until the next day in Koya, a village near the border with Papua New Guinea.

Theys was a leader to those who wished for an independent Papua state. They consider the Indonesian annexation of Papua through the Pepera referendum in late 1960s invalid as it was not carried out through a one-man-one-vote system, but by using a representative method. They demand independence for Papua.