Rabby Pramudatama, Jakarta – Amnesty International has called on the Law and Human Rights Ministry to investigate alleged torture by National Police officers and bring any perpetrators to justice.
In an open letter sent to the ministry on April 4, the London-based human rights group also presented reports of several incidents of police brutality throughout 2011, including two young brothers who were found dead at a police detention cell in West Sumatra.
"We believe that one of the reasons why cases of torture and other ill-treatment continue to occur in the country is because of the failure to revise the existing Criminal Code," the letter says.
Ministry spokesman Robby Leo said his office would study the letter and would comment soon.
Meanwhile, Ridha Saleh, deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which also received the letter, said the commission received many reports of torture allegedly committed by police.
He said state institutions needed to prioritize efforts to curb human rights violations. "The Law and Human Rights Ministry should follow up the letter. Indeed, with or without pressure from Amnesty, such cases of rights abuse should be a priority," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He said the problem had always been about coordination between the ministry and police institutions. "The ministry rarely responds to such reports. The death of the two brothers became a national story after their family alleged the boys were tortured to death by officers who then fabricated their suicides," he said.
The brothers, Faisal, 14, and Budri, 17, were detained by police in Sijunjung, West Sumatra, for allegedly stealing a motor bike and a mosque donation box, in December 2011.
Both boys were later found hanging in the bathroom of their detention cell. However, the family of the victims suspect that they were beaten to death by the detention officers.
Based on such cases, Amnesty asked the Indonesian authorities, especially the Law and Human Rights Ministry, to ensure independent investigation of all reports of torture and other ill-treatment by police.