Tag: Orang Terlatih Khusus (OTK)

Timika Six plead for international intervention after sentence passed despite unproven case

by West Papua Media, with Oktovianus Pogau at SuaraPapua.com

April 18, 2013

Six West Papua National Committee (KNPB) activists from Timika were each sentenced to one year in prison on Tuesday by judges from the Assembly District Court in a trial deemed as opaque and farcical by observers.  Sentenced on charges of carrying dangerous weapons and makar (treason/subversion), defence lawyers insisted that the six non-violent activists had no case proven against them and will immediately be lodging an appeal.

The KNPB Timika 6 back in their cells, photo taken April 17, after trial hearing. From L-R, (photo KNPB/ West Papua Media)
The KNPB Timika 6 back in their cells, photo taken April 17, after trial hearing. (photo KNPB/ West Papua Media)

The six, Romario Yatipai, Steven Itlay, Yakonias Womsiwor, Paulus Marsyom, Alfred Marsyom and Yanto Awerkion, were arrested on October 24, 2012, amidst a spate of high publicity arrests of KNPB activists by the Australian-funded counter-terror unit Detachment 88.  The then-incoming Papua Police Chief, former Detachment 88 chief Tito Karnavian,  exploited the brutal arrests to increase justification for use of Detachment 88 against political activists at a time when OTK (unknown persons, now known as Orang Terlatih Khusus or Specially Trained Persons) killings were spiralling out of control across Papua.

Despite Jakarta pinning the blame for the killings on non-violent activists from the

KNPB Timika Activist Romario Yatipai
KNPB Timika Activist Romario Yatipai

KNPB, no credible evidence had been able to prove KNPB responsibility despite highly politicised and farcical trial processes.  Most independent observers have linked responsibility for OTK incidents in Papua squarely in the hands of agents of the Indonesian special forces.

In SMS and email communications to West Papua Media from the prison before and after the trial, KNPB activist and detainee spokesman Romario Yatipai said that the assertions made by police were “Simply lies”.

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“We are KNPB activist in Timika, West Papua. Indonesia Police jailed us with no reason.” – Romario Yatipai

“Indonesian police say that KNPB activist are criminals, terrorists, Makar (treason), separatist and so on,” Yatipai explained.

“Actually, KNPB activists in Timika always make peaceful demonstrations with all West Papuans.    We always make peaceful demonstrations to demand Referendum, as the best solution for West Papua,” he said.

Central to the police case was that the accused were allegedly carrying explosives to be used against Indonesian police posts and military targets, yet no evidence was furnished that could prove that the accused possessed explosives before t

Despite the Australian Federal Police providing Detachment 88 with state-of-the-art explosives and ballistic forensic testing capability to secure counter-terror convictions, none of this equipment or personnel were deployed in Papua for any of the OTK  trials, and no forensic proof was available at the Timika 6 trials that could have linked any of the defendants to use of explosives.

The trial heard wild accusations from prosecutors and police, but defence lawyers led by Gustaf Kawer, objected and expressed surprise when Yanto Awerkion (19) was sentenced.

As to who had ownership of explosives, Kawer explained to Suara Papua, none of the witnesses saw the defendant carrying explosives, but officials forced the defendant to claim possession of explosives.

“Since the moment of the defendant’s arrest along with five colleagues, there were absolutely no explosives he possessed … Yet when he reached the Mimika police station, the officers brought explosives and used it as evidence, and compelled the accused to confess  having an explosive. It’s very strange,” Kawer told Suara Papua.   “Our legal counsel will conduct a plea on April 23, 2013. The sixth defendant must be released immediately because of  not proven guilty, ”

Kawer also objected to the sentencing of the other defendants under makar provisions, saying the judges decision “did not correlate with the examination of the facts.”

“For the first case, it’s not proven that the five defendants were in the possession of sharp weapons.  And concerning the  treason related article, also during the course of investigation (there was) not any reference to it, but nevertheless the judge decided one year in prison by saying treason  that was proven – so we will appeal, ” Kawer told suarapapua. com.

After the defendants returned to the prison cells that have been their home since October 2012, they made a video appeal on their mobile phones, calling on the international community to do more to ensure that Indonesia ceases its persecution of peaceful political activists.

“We hope (the) International community, Amnesty International, IPWP, ILWP support us and pressure Indonesia government, Indonesia Police in Papua and Timika,” Yatipai told West Papua Media.  “West Papua activists, and all West Papuans need UN Observers,  UN Humanitarian workers, and International Journalists now in Papua.”

“Please support us with prayer and monitoring for us” said Yatipai.

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Ex Freeport worker murdered, mutilated in Timika OTK killing

by West Papua Media

January 23, 2013

The body of Henok Rumansara where found in Kwamki Narama (Photo: Kobawes Kores / Fb)

Papuan civilians around Timika have again been made wary of military provocations that may potentially revive a bloody horizontal conflict, after a former Freeport mine worker’s mutilated body was found in a roadside trench on January 19.

Villagers from Kwamki Narama, just outside Timika, found the badly mutilated body of Hanok Rumansara, 40, from Biak, in a roadside ditch in front of the village.  The autopsy on his body found Rumansara was riddled with over 23 stab wounds, plus a number of injuries cause by blunt objects, according to his human rights observers.

A human rights worker with Komnas Ham, going by the pseudonym Kobewas Kores, posted information on social media that Rumansara had been picked up by a motorcycle taxi (ojek) rider to take him to Kwamki Narama.  Whilst on the road, a group of unknown persons (orang tak kenal or OTK) set up a road block, and was not seen again until his body was found, according to witnesses interviewed by human rights workers.

Indonesian police have claimed that though there is little information to work on, they are pursuing the culprits, according to citizen media website malanesia.com.  Police have also claimed they have interviewed several witnesses and have secured arrows, bow, an axe and wood.  However, Indonesian police have rarely showed a willingness to properly investigate OTK cases, which most credible observers in Papua laying the blame squarely on Indonesian special forces from either Kopassus or Densus 88.

A former worker at the contentious Freeport-McMoRan run giant Grasberg gold and Copper mine, Rumansara had reportedly been active in the ongoing Freeport industrial dispute, according to initial information.  It is unclear why Rumansara had lost his job at the mine, but he was amongst hundreds of workers who failed to regain their jobs after the record-breaking seven month strike ended in December 2011.

Many Papuan ex-Freeport workers have been reportedly stranded from their home regions after not receiving any or enough severance pay from the management of the most lucrative gold mine on the planet.  West Papua Media has no information at this stage to indicate that he was targeted in relation to his involvement at Freeport, or in the strike.  If this were the case, it would represent a major escalation that would backfire significantly on the perpetrators, given the high political organisation of Freeport workers who are already tense given the recent gassing deaths of several workers.

However, Local human rights observers have questioned if the latest OTK killing – the first since community-led peace building put an end to a bloody military-fostered inter-tribal war from 20 May to 5 October 2012 – was a deliberate act of provocation to upset the current fragile peace.  The 2012 horizontal conflict claimed over 2o lives in numerous OTK killings, as well as direct tribal violence, while police and Indonesian military conducted operations deliberately designed to incite violence.

‘Kobewas Kores’ believes that indeed there was an OTK killing, but they got their targeting wrong and killed a man from another part of Papua.

“Is it possible that the killing was deliberately done to give birth to a conflict breaking out in Kwamki Narama village? I think the scenario actually missed the target of an indigenous person to Kwamki Narama.   In this case there are specially trained parties, the Indonesian military is trying to sow confusion in Timika and Papua in general,” Kobewas said.

West Papua Media

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Buchtar Tabuni released from Abepura prison after completing sentence

Buchtar Tabuni
Buchtar Tabuni Free Political Prisoner Campaign art (artwork: AK Rockefeller)

by West Papua Media

January 19, 2013

UPDATED

Buchtar Tabuni, the Chairman of the pro-independence National Parliament of West Papua, was released unexpectedly from Abepura prison around 12pm West Papua time today, to a waiting group of about fifty of his supporters from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), according to multiple sources.

KNPB News reported that Tabuni sent an SMS message early this morning from prison. “To all the Free Papua fighters in Numbay, Sentani and its vicinity, at 9 this morning please pickup (at) Abepura LP”,  Buchtar’s message read.

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Buchtar Tabuni upon his release from Abepura prison (19/3) (photo: Melinda Ayomi/Kompasiana)
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Buchtar Tabuni being escorted (19/3) on long march from Abepura prison to Mako Tabuni’s site of execution in Waena (photo: Melinda Ayomi/Kompasiana)

Local sources today reported to West Papua Media that about fifty KNPB members then escorted a relieved Tabuni from Abepura prison on a long march to the assassination site of his friend and KNPB colleague, former KNPB Chairman Mako Tabuni.  Mako Tabuni was gunned down in broad daylight in a political assassination carried out by Australian-funded and trained Detachment 88 counter-terror officers outside the Perumnas 3 Dormitories in Waena on June 14, 2012, one week after Buchtar’s arrest.  He was also due to be taken to the graveside of Mako Tabuni in order to pay his respects to his slain friend, colleague and clansman.

Tabuni was arrested on 6 June 2012 during an upsurge in mysterious “OTK”  (orang Terlatih Khusus or “specially trained persons”) shootings, and publicly linked by then Papua Police Chief Bigman Tobing to the shootings.  However, according to statements by Tabuni’s lawyer during his criminal trial in September, the entire case was “nothing more than a set up.”

Lawyer Gustaf Kawer said at the time, “Buchtar had been linked to the shooting of Miron Wetipo but that case has already been solved, so it was clear that the authorities were trying to make a scapegoat of Buchtar.”

Tabuni was in custody when more shootings occurred, so “Buchtar was not in any way connected with those shootings. So instead of being charged with the shootings,” said Kawer during Tabuni’s trial, “he now faces the charge  of inflicting damage on the Abepura Prison in 2010, which means that he should have been arrested in 2010.”

In a highly opaque trial closed to independent witnesses, and marked by significant intimidation of journalists by police and court officials, Tabuni was convicted on a charge “for having allegedly inflicted damage on the Abepura prison in December 2011,” and “for exchanging harsh words with prison warders.”

In recent months, Tabuni’s health had suffered from his incarceration in Abepura prison, with complaints of respiratory illness, gastric diseases and dangerously low blood pressure, from his incarceration in atrocious and unhygienic conditions by Indonesian colonial prison authorities.

According to credible sources, Tabuni is spending the next days with family, friends and colleagues from KNPB to mourn the losses of his comrades, and to discuss and consider the next steps in the campaign for justice in West Papua.

WestPapuaMedia

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Shooting in Puncak Jaya, Papua police search for a group

Tabloid Jubi

January 11, 2013

Papua Police chief and OTK Commander Tito Karnavian

Papua regional police will do thorough investigation on one of the armed groups in Puncak Jaya regency, after the shootings in Kampung Kuyukwi, Puncak Jaya regency on Thursday (10/1) At approximately 17:45 EDT, resulting in injuring one of TNI member called Hasan and one  civilian named H. Hadith Nito died.

Papua Police Chief Inspector General of Police Tito Karnavian told to reporters in Jayapura on Friday (11/1), that measures had been taken in this and local police conducted the crime scene, and then help the victims included donors of blood  for the victims who are in critical condition.

“We are planning to form a team to go to Puncak Jaya. This team will  conduct the crime scene and investigation, and identification of the suspects who did the shooting. The information we receive, is that actually in that area there are several armed groups, so we stayed mapping which groups are most likely to perform that action, both in terms of motives, the possible characteristics of the perpetrators, and the type of weapons used. For sure we are up for a particular group, conducting a deep research of the group, “he said.

According to him, whilst a single perpetrator, but there may be people who help, supervise, and provide information, however the one who did the execution is the single culprit. “The transitory weapon had a short barrel, eyewitnesses saw a short weapon. The type is subject to forensic examination, “he said.

When asked whether the shooting was by the group led by Goliath Tabuni,  the provincial police chief said, all possibilities can happen, however from the temporary  examination by the police this is not the group. “We see in the addition of this group there is another group in the district of Puncak Jaya. For sure we are up for the group. While as to what the motives are, we can answer the motive if the culprit is caught or someone will tell us, “he said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Jansen Simanjuntak of Kapendam XVII Cenderawasih as confirmed by reporters via cell phone said that military act in accordance with the rules of law applicable to the matter which the police is to investigate thoroughly.

“When you look at the incident the shooter did not have any sense of humanity either at the shooting of soldiers and or civilian, fact is that the victim did not do anything wrong to be suddenly shot from behind,” he said.

Previously, the shooting by unknown person (OTK) back in the villages Kuyukwi, Puncak Jaya regency on Thursday (10/1) At approximately 17:45 CET which resulted in one  TNI member named PFC Hasan  wounded and one civilian named H. Hadith Nito died.

Victim Hasan PFC  was shot in the lower back, while H. Hadith Nito was shot in the upper right chest and was rushed to a local hospital, but it did not help. Currently PFC Hasan was in intensive care at the General Hospital of Honor, Puncak Jaya regency as result of gunshot wounds he suffered. (Jubi / Alex)

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Andreas Harsono: Is Repression Against KNPB Legal?

January 4, 2013

by OKTOVIANUS POGAU of SuaraPapua.Com

https://i0.wp.com/suarapapua.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/HARSONO-ANDREAS.jpg
ANDREAS HARSONO, Indonesia Consultant for Human Rights Watch. (FOTO: RIDHA/SuaraPapua)

SUARAPAPUA, Jakarta –  Human Rights Watch (HRW) consultant  for Indonesia, Andreas Harsono, questioned the actions of the Indonesian security forces whose shootings led to the death of 22 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) during the year 2012; 55 people were arrested, and hundreds of others were injured.

‘Given that 22 KNPB members died from shootings, dozens were arrested and unknown hundreds were injured, there has been no transparent judicial process, and no internal mechanism to question police procedures in Papua, we have to raise the question of whether this repression of the KNPB is legal?’.

The statement was re-affirmed by Andreas, when interviewed by suarapapua.com on Thursday 3rd Jan 2013).   According to Harsono , the police may justify their actions by incriminating KNPB members in violence, attacks on transmigrant settlers and security forces, but they still need to make their case transparent.

“The problem for police is working with transparency – can the police show this? At the same time, the KNPB needs to carry out an internal investigation in response to police accusations of involvement in violence’, he said.

Harsono also hopes that the organisation led by Victor Yeimo will quickly announce the outcome of the investigation, along with decisions to dismiss KNPB members found to be involved in acts of violence. As previously quoted, the KNPB head Victor Yeimo has stated that 22 KNPB members were killed in 2012 by Indonesian forces, 55 arrested and many among them are currently listed on the police wanted list.

(Translated by West Papua Media translators)

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