Although the 7 December 2000 Abepura case is now closed according to the law, victims of this bloody incident are not satisfied. On Friday this week they went to the DPRP building to seek justice.
The crowd of more than forty people were organised by Solidarity for Victims of Human Rights Violations (SiKaP-HAM) which links together a number of organisations, KontraS Papua, PBHI, KPKC, GKI Synod, Students and Youth and Abepura Community Survivors.
They called on the provincial government, the MRP and the DPRP to pay attention to the victims of human rights violation in Papua, as stated at the demonstration by Peneas Lokbere, who coordinated the action.
They rejected the presence of organic and non-organic troops in Papua and called on the national and provincial governments to work together to transfer Papuan prisoners from prisons in Jakarta and Makassar to Papua.
They called for the immediate establishment of a human rights court in Papua and for the enactment of regulations about the right to reparation for victims of human rights violations.
Peneas said that the bloody Abepura incident began when two unidentified people attacked the police station in Abepura and some nearby shops burned down. One police officer was killed and two were injured. After this, the police conducted sweepings of people from the Central Highlands and three residences where people from there are living. Many arrests occurred, which led to torture and summary killings as well as unlawful detentions and the death of some detainees.
"We Papuans know nothing about the victims. What does the Abepura case show? That there are victims but no perpetrators because the courts have become places for cleaning away the actions of the perpetrators."
He said that the victims of the Abepura incident are among the many victims of the irrationality of human rights courts in Indonesia. At a court in Makassar in September 2005, the judges did not respond to the victims but freed the accused, a decision that is far from the norms of laws or basic human rights.
Peneas went on to say that seven years after that incident, they had not received justice but would continue to struggle, along with the victims of other incidents in Papua such as Wasior, Wamena, Biak, the murder of Theys Hijo Eluay and the kidnap of (his driver) Aristoteles Makosa.
He said that conflict was still ongoing in Papua because every human rights violation was linked to the security forces, the TNI and the police.
The issue of the OPM is conveniently used by certain elements to become involved in brutalities. And these perpetrators end up being regarded as heroes and given promotion and good jobs. He said that violence was being concealed behind a pack of lies.
The same fate is being suffered by detainees and convicted prisoners in prisons in Jakarta and Makassar. Ardi Sunggulmol died on 1 December 2006 in Jakarta, Maichel Heselo died in August 2007 in Makassar. Herry Asso who was transferred from a prison in Makassar to Abepura prison is now seriously ill with a lung disorder. as a result of sleeping on a bare floor without a mattress.
Another survivor of the Abepura incident at the demo was carrying his one-year-old child, Saravina in his arms. He also gave a speech calling for the re-investigation of these human rights violations. 'I myself was a victim but I know nothing and was tortured for one day and two nights,' he said.
The peaceful demonstration was guarded by the security forces, including Brimob of Papua and the police force.
[Slightly abridged translation from TAPOL.]