Chairman of Commission A Parliament of Papua together with Dogiyai citizens went to the Papua Police Headquarters on Friday (15/4) in connection with the bloody incidents that have occurred in the District of Moanemani Dogiyai.

Jayapura-Papua Police Chief, Inspector General of Police, Beko MSI Suprapto was urged to resign immediately, because of his inability to safeguard security and protect local residents following a shooting incident in Moanemani Dogiyai District on Wednesday (13/4) at 12.00 noon which killed Dominic Auwe (27) and Aloysius Waine (25) while two others [three names given] suffered injuries, Vince Yobe (23) and Albertus Pigai (25) and Matthias Lyai (27). Dominic Auwe died from wounds in the chest and head with the bullet still in his body. Waine suffered a gunshot wound to the chest when bullets penetrated his head.

Yobe suffered a gunshot wound in the chest which exited through his right armpit. Albertus Pigai suffered a gunshot wound in the back which penetrated his front ribs and abdomen. Matias Lyai (27) suffered a gunshot wound in the calf, ankles and soles.

This was explained by the Chairman of Commission A of the Parliament of Papua, Ruben Magai, accompanied by Chairman of Parliament Dogiyai Lamek Kotouki SH, Ananias Pigai Commission Vice Chairman, Member of Parliament of Papua, Hagar Commission E Aksamina Medes, Chairman of the Front PEPERA PB Selpius Bobii and community representatives from Dogiyai when issuing a press release regarding shooting incident which involved four civilians in Dogiyai, at the room of the Papuan parliament of Papua, on Friday (15/4).

This incident had been triggered by an increase in toggle gambling in Moanemani, the capital of the District of Dogiyai. It is suspected that the gambling is backed by the local police. Prior to this incident, a dispute had broken out between police and the seller of the toggle, when security apparatus reached the toggle sales location in Moanemani Market.

Without saying word, the security forces seized money from the toggle seller who immediately went to the police office in Moanemani to ask for her money back. There was a fierce exchange of words that ended in gunfire that killed two civilians and wounded three people.

Not satisfied with the actions of the police, a large crowd of people burned down the Moanemani police office.

The chairman of the Democratic Party in the Papuan Parliament urged the central government to immediately deal with this bloody incident. He also appealed to the National Human Rights Commission to conduct an investigation into this incident and disseminate the results to the international community since such problems are a part of the continual abuse of human rights in Papua.

"We demand that the new Papua police chief should properly understand conditions in Papua and should be able to provide security for the local communities," he said.

The chairman of the Dogiyai Parliament, Kotouki SH Lamek, who was present at the time expressed his concern about the humanitarian tragedy that had occurred in Dogiyai, whereas the addition deployment of additional of military personnel and police did not safeguard security but created feelings of intimidation and the random shooting of innocent civilians. Adding to the tragedy was the fact that when the disaster occurred, local government officials were absent from Dogoyai.

"The actions taken by the security forces in Dogiyai were inhumane," he said.

A local resident who arrived in Jayapura on Friday (15/4) reported that the security forces had seized his pistol and demanded the return of the weapon no later than Friday (15/4).

The chairman of Committee A of the Papuan Parliament, Ruben Magai Dogiyai, together with local citizens urged the Papua police headquarters Inspector General of Papua Police chief Pol Suprapto MSI to resign immediately because the shooting incident had involved civilians in Moanemani Dogiyai District. However, the officials concerned were not present. Finally the head of Police public relations Papua Police Commissioner Pol Wachyono... (sentence in original not complete).

At the time that this report was written, the situation in Moanemani was still tense. Security forces supported by the TNI conducting sweepings at the scene forced many residents to flee to safer locations.

Meanwhile, the Justice and Peace Coordinator in Papua, Yones Douw of the Kingmi Church said in a press release that the tragedy Moenamani was a gross human rights violation. The police had shot people at random just because of gambling. he said.

"This is a crime against humanity, because police shot and killed people just because of something very trivial," he said.

The chronology of the incident according to the Kingmi Papuan Church is as follows:

On April 13, at about 09:00, Dominokus Auwe was selling gambling toggle coupons in Moenamani Market. There were many buyers. Suddenly members of the Moenamani police arrived at the place where the sales were taking place and immediately seized money from the victim and from another person called Seme. After that, the police returned to police headquarters. Because they had lost money, the victim and two colleagues went to police station and asked for the money to be refunded. "When the victim asked for his money to be returned, police said nothing but immediately shot the victim in the chest and head. The victim died in front of the police station," he said.

After that, the police shot another victim named Albert Pigai in the ribs and shot Vince Yobe in the chest. "The third victim was taken to the nearby health center."

When they heard about the brutal incident, the residents refused to accept the police explanation and went to police station which and set on fire. They also attacked the barracks dormitory kiosk belonging to Madeleine Airport in Moenamani. The crowd also attacked local police headquarters and several members of the Police.

At 12:00 noon on the same day, Albert Pigai and Vince Yobe were taken away by the police from the health clinic and taken to Nabire Hospital.

Both were given infusions which restored them to consciousness when they realised that they had been treated while in handcuffs.

Not long afterwards, two truckloads of Brimob and Dalmas troops arrived in Moenamani. On the next day 14 April, five trucks from Battalion 753 special team arrived in Moenamani from Nabire. A resident named Alwisius Wanine Ikebo was found dead in the village of Ikebo with a gunshot wound to the chest. And on the same day, the two victims were buried.

According to Yones, a businessman from Bali named Made had opened the Moenamani toggle gambling site in 2010, with police protection for the business in exchange for a fee. The toggle business toggle is very attractive to local citizens, which is why Made launched the sales agency.

The Police should have arrested the resident bookie Moenamai, not the retailers, but because the police are paid a fee, they have become untouchable,' he said.

This illegal business are always constantly protected by the police, and when citizens demanded that it be closed down, they are confronted by the security apparatus. "Because the police benefit from the Made, they always protect it and only arrest the retailers,' he said. (Jir/MDC/don)