Students and residents claiming to be from the Papua Solidarity for the Abepura Incident staged a protest in Jayapura on Monday, demanding the death penalty for two police officers charged for their roles in human rights abuses four years ago in Abepura.

In their protest outside Papua's legislative council, the protesters demanded that Brig. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman and Sr. Comr. Daud Sihombing be sentenced to death for their roles in the incident.

"What is the penalty for killers?" asked a protester, Cosmos Yual, in his speech. "Death," responded the protesters.

Cosmos said he was disappointed upon learning that the prosecutors only demanded 10 years' imprisonment for Johny and Daud, although the two were responsible for the clash. "Three people were shot dead and five others died because of their injuries," he said.

The protesters also demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pay attention to the case and ensure the two were sentenced according to their crimes.

The human rights abuses took place on Dec. 7, 2000 in Abepura, about 20 kilometers south of Jayapura, after 30 residents armed with sharp weapons attacked and set fire to the Abepura Police station. Sgt. Petrus Eppa was killed and three other policemen were wounded in the melee.

In a separate attack on the Irian Jaya Autonomy office in Abepura, a security officer, Markus Padama, was killed. About an hour later, the Abepura Police, assisted by the Jayapura Mobile Brigade paramilitary unit, began a hunt for the perpetrators by scouring nearby residential areas and hostels, including a student dormitory.

During the searches, police arrested, assaulted and tortured at least 99 people, whom they claimed were suspects in the police station attack. Three people were reportedly killed in the retaliatory raids. (JP/Nethy Dharma Somba)