Hundreds of people have been calling for the unconditional release of Forkorus Yaboisembut and his four colleagues. A demonstration in Jayapura presented this demand to the Regional Director of the Department of Law and Human Rights on Wednesday.

In speeches made at the demonstration, they strongly rejected the trials for makar – subversion – which are now under way. They also expressed support for the newly established Australia-Pacific branch of International Parliamentarians for West Papua.

Among those taking part in the demonstration were people from many walks of life, such as students, school pupils, religious leaders and representatives of local communities. They said that Forkorus Yaboisembut was the leader of the Federal Republic of West Papua and that he and his four colleagues should be released.

They also said that independence was the right of all people on earth. The Papuan people have the right to affirm their independence in their own state, just like people in other states.

They said that for fifty years, the Papuan people had been subjected to blood-thirsty actions without stop and subjected to the military approach in the Land of Papua, resulting in killings, kidnappings and maltreatment in the name of the NKRI, the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

We have been the victims of human rights violations on a massive scale, ever since 1961 when the establishment of the State of West Papua was proclaimed. They said that West Papua had been forcibly integrated into Indonesia. Referring to the Act of Free Choice in 1969, when 1,025 persons had taken a decision in favour of integration, they said that this should have been a vote held in accordance with the principle of universal franchise, meaning one person, one vote. And since that time, the Papua people had been the victims of policies serving the interests of Indonesia.and denied the right to self-determination.

They also urged the UN Council for Human Rights which has continually closed its eyes to what has been happening in West Papua, to stop ignoring the rights of the West Papuan people. UN agencies such as the rapporteur for human rights defenders had been denied access to West Papua. They also said that since integration, some one hundred thousand Papuans had died. They demanded the right to independence, to be free from living under Indonesian colonial rule.

They stressed that declaration made by Forkorus as President of the Federl Republic of West Papua had taken place as a result of decisions adopted at the Third Papuan Peoples Congress last year. They also protested against the judges at the trial who were charging Forkorus and his colleagues of makar.