Indonesia, West Papua – The past weeks have been characterised by a re-occuring pattern of impunity across the Papuan provinces. Civilians died or were seriously injured during security operations, families and lawyers file reports, legislative bodies form special committees, and the police pledge transparent investigations. Months later, no suspect have been named, no case file has reached a prosecutor and the officers involved remain on duty. From Merauke in the south to Sorong in the west and the central highlands, recent cases documented by Papuan legal aid organisations and human rights groups show that internal disciplinary mechanisms and administrative delays continue to obstruct criminal accountability in West Papua.
Human Rights Monitor has documented for years that impunity continues to be a structural driver of human rights violations in West Papua rather than an incidental failure. While police or military personnel have occasionally faced sanctions, these instances were often disproportionate to the severity of reported torture, killings and disappearances. Courts seldom held perpetrators accountable in public trials, police investigations lacked transparency, and neither military courts nor internal police procedures provided victims with adequate reparations. Recent cases of human rights violations which have been brought to the attention of authorities remain in legal limbo due to delayed investigations, limited transparency and an absence of meaningful criminal prosecutions, even where public protests, formal complaints and engagement with other governmental institutions generated pressure.
Maybrat: No suspects named in shooting of three civilians
On 13 August 2026 three residents, Mrs Anike Fatie, Mr Silvester Assem and Mrs Selviana Sory, were shot near the Aifam River in Aifat Timur Tengah district, Maybrat Regency, Southwest Papua. A month later, at a public discussion in Sorong on 13 September organised by the Maybrat Community Solidarity for Democracy and Human Rights together with LBH Pos Sorong, participants demanded legal action following promises made by the Maybrat District Police Chief and the Southwest Papua Provincial Police Chief to solve the case. Neither the shooter nor the motive has been made public.
Investigators accompanied by Komnas HAM representatives recovered 26 bullet casings and collected witness testimonies during the crime scene examination on 22 August. Police investigators stated that the casings would be forensically analysed to establish the type and likely origin of the ammunition. As of mid-September 2026, neither the public nor the relatives have been informed about the stage the investigation has reached. Civil society groups welcomed the local parliament's decision to form a special committee and monitor the law enforcement process.
Sorong: torture complaint stalled for sixteen months
The case of Mr Ortizan F. Tarage, 34, continues to face legal stagnation. Members of the Sorong City Police reportedly tortured Mr Tarage with bamboo, wood beams, a hose, and a metal object, during his arrest in May 2025. His wife lodged a police report on 22 May 2025 (LP/B/341/V/2025). As of September 2026, according to LBH Papua Pos Sorong, no suspect has been named and no adequate legal proceedings have begun against the officers involved, who continue to work at the police station.
The Papua Regional Office of Komnas HAM examined the complaint and found acts of torture and cruel treatment, arbitrary use of coercive measures and unreasonably protracted handling of the case. The stagnation in the investigation amounted to an attempt to grant the officers impunity. LBH has demanded that investigators must identify suspects and that the internal affairs section should take firm action against anyone proven to be involved in the alleged torture.
Central Papua: six months of silence on four bloody incidents
The Papua Action Group of Amnesty International Indonesia (GA-Papua AII) marked six months of unanswered demands for justice in a statement from Nabire on 1 September 2026. The cases at issue span the central highlands: alleged extrajudicial killings and other abuses in Dogiyai between 31 March and 2 April 2026; the Kembru and Pogoma incidents in Puncak Regency on 14 April; the Tembagapura (Kali Kabur Mile 69) incident in Mimika on 7 May; and the killing of Mrs Melkiana Duwitau in Intan Jaya on 2 July. According to GA-Papua AII, the resolution process appeared to be deliberately slowed, ignored or silenced by the authorities responsible, and warned that delay effectively encourages repetition of such abuses.
The Dogiyai case is exemplary of internal proceedings displacing criminal justice. After a coalition of Dogiyai community leaders met the Central Papua Police Chief on 2 April, only one of their three demands, the removal of the Dogiyai District Police Chief, was met. In May, around twelve officers from the Kamu and Dogiyai police were dismissed or demoted following a disciplinary hearing. All appealed against sanctions. Following the appeals, nothing further has been reported. Data submitted to Komnas HAM on 21 May has produced no visible follow-up.
In the Kembru case, a Puncak Regency investigation team and students have asked Komnas HAM to classify the incident as a gross human rights violation under Law No. 26 of 2000 and are still awaiting a decision. The killing of Mrs Duwitau in Intan Jaya was formally reported to Komnas HAM on 29 July with no reported progress. An earlier Intan Jaya case from Soanggama in October 2025 remains equally stalled.
Komnas HAM has acknowledged receiving material on the Tembagapura incident but has said nothing since. GA-Papua AII noted that all of these complaints have now exceeded the 30- to 40-day timeframe that Komnas HAM's own procedures envisage, and called on the Central Papua Police Chief, the regional military commander and Kogabwilhan III to account for security operations in the area, including their command structures.
Lanny Jaya: Authorities have launched investigations into the Melagi Case
The killing of Pendite Weya, a 18-year-old girl killed by an explosion in Melagi District, Lanny Jaya Regency, on 6 June 2026, stands out because the legal process has begun to move, largely as a result of sustained pressure from a local legislative committee and civil society. The Lanny Jaya DPRK Special Committee on Humanitarian Affairs visited the scene within two days, held a public hearing on 26 June and handed its evidence and report to the local police. On 7 August it met the Deputy Papua Police Chief, the Director of General Criminal Investigations and the Director of Intelligence and Security in Jayapura to push for ballistic testing of the explosive remnants. The police committed to a reconstruction, and on 11 August a Papua Police team returned to Melagi with the committee, the Papua Foundation for Justice and Human Integrity (YKKMP), the Humanitarian Investigation Team and PAHAM Papua.
A police report has been filed at Lanny Jaya District Police. Investigators have questioned five witnesses, issued a formal case progress notification (SP2HP) and requested statements from 16 additional witnesses. The monitoring groups have welcomed this but demanded that witnesses be able to testify without intimidation, that any minors be questioned in line with child protection rules, and that debris from the scene be scientifically examined to determine the type of the explosive and how it was delivered.
Conclusion
The described cases show the same mechanisms at work. Complaints are lodged and the police promise transparency. Even if Komnas HAM or committees from local parliaments are involved in the advocacy process, suspects are rarely identified, and case files are not being forwarded to prosecutors to establish civilian court trials. The Melagi investigation demonstrates that persistent, coordinated pressure from a legislative body, lawyers and community groups can keep a case alive. The case also shows how much effort is required simply to obtain witness interviews and forensic testing that should be routine.
Measured against the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016), which sets out the standards states must meet under the right to life, the cases fall short on almost every core element. The Protocol requires that any investigation into a death that may have been caused by state agents be prompt, effective and thorough, independent and impartial, and transparent.
The Konorop and Maybrat cases fail the promptness and transparency tests. One month after a triple shooting no stage of the investigation has been communicated to the public, and in Merauke the family is still petitioning a cultural assembly to secure a criminal process. Complains stalled for up to sixteen months breach the requirement that investigations not be unduly delayed and that findings be acted upon.
The Protocol's provisions on securing physical evidence, ballistic and forensic analysis and protecting witnesses and families from intimidation have been honoured only in the Melagi case. Human Rights Monitor attributes this as an outcome of the legislative committee and civil society groups that pressed for crime scene reconstruction and forensic testing. Even where the Protocol's procedural elements are partly met, the absence of published findings and civilian judicial oversight means that none of the cases currently satisfies the state's duty to provide an effective remedy.