Tag: police

Police say exchange of shots with armed civilians, the family say it was the police who shot Eduard

by Victor Mambor, Editor, Tabloid Jubi

December 1, 2013

Jayapura 1/12 [Jubi]- The statement of the Vice-Captain of Papua Police Region, Police Brig-Gen Paulus Waterpauw to a national media source about the incident that killed a citizen of Depapre has been refuted by locals from Yongsu village, Depapre District, Jayapura Regency.

The Police Vice-Captain said that there had been armed contact between a mobile brigade [Brimob] of the Indonesian Police with an armed civilian group in the Depapre area of Jayapura, killing one of the civilians on Saturday. Apart from that it was claimed that a Brimob member was shot in the hand. However when Yongsu villagers were contacted by Jubi on Sat 30/11 evening, they said there had been no armed contact in Depapre. A villager who didn’t want to give their name said that a villager named Eduard Okoseray [40] who worked as the village secretary of Yongsu, Depapre District had died from being shot by Brimob Papua forces.

Another Yongsu villager who wanted his name concealed who was contacted by Jubi Sat 30/11 night said the same thing. ‘The event happened on 29 Nov 2013. Eduard was not looking after the operational aid money for the village. The District head facilitated police from Brimob. The Papuan police arbitrarily shot Eduard’.

The event was also noted by Matius Murib, Director of Baptist Voice. Matius said, ‘the victim Eduard, male 40, was village secretary of Yongsu, a victim of Brimob brutality at Yapsi village, Depapre [29/11].

The police’s different version of the incident as exchange of fire was declared by Kabid Humas Papuan Police AKBP  Sulistyo Pudjo Hartono, Sat 30/11 afternoon. He said one police was hit by a bullet that exploded by itself before the exchange of fire. To this journalist, Pudjo said it happened during an ambush by an armed group calling themselves Cycloop King Group [Kelompok Raja Cycloop]

‘The bullet was too active, it went off as soon as it was put in the gun and someone was hit. But that happened on top of the vehicle. The soldier was hit in the cheek and shoulder but is in a stable condition, still at Bhayangkara Hospital’

Pudjo also claimed that the police seized some evidence.

But the Yongsi villagers said it was not true there was armed conflict. ‘The police make up false opinions, please help to advocate for the people of Depapre who are scared. There was no police victim. He shot himself when holding the rifle loosely on the very bumpy road to Yongsu’ explained the Yongsu villager [Jubi]

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Unconfirmed reports: Riots in Nabire leave 2 shot after truck crash kills schoolboy

West Papua Media

January 6, 2013

Tensions flared into a riot in Nabire on Friday, January 4, after a truck travelling at high speed ploughed into a family group injuring several people and killing a young school boy, drove off from the scene, according to credible but unconfirmed reports from human rights sources in Nabire.

Peter Wakei, a Grade 5 elementary school student, was reportedly buried on Saturday after succumbing from serious head injuries from the collision at 10 am local time on Friday, according to family members spoken to by local human rights activists.  Schoolboy Alfon Tegeke (12, below) was lightly injured from the crash and treated in hospital, with the dead boy’s older brother Anton Wakei (32), the District Head of West Mapia, remains in a critical condition in Nabire hospital.

Indonesian Police were accused by community members of failing to search for the truck driver, according to witnesses, who reported that community members then mounted their own search for the truck driver at the Coral Market on sundown.

A heavily armed unit of Indonesian police confronted the Papuan community members in the market, and opened fire without warning on the group at 1830 local time, hitting two civilians with live bullets.  Apedus Wakei (31), was shot in the buttocks, while John Tekege (26) was shot in the thigh, and were taken to Nabire district hospital in a serious but stable condition, according to reports from Napas (National Papua Solidarity) sources in Nabire.

Police then arrested seven more community members and held them overnight without charge.  The seven detainees were released the following morning after the Nabire Police Chief met with members of the victim’s families together with the new Dogiyai Regent in order to defuse the tense situation in Nabire.  The inflamed situation has since returned to safe conditions after the intensive community negotiations, according to local human rights activists.

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Police kidnap pro-democracy activist in Biak: Reports

by West Papua Media from human rights workers in Biak

December 29, 2012

Unconfirmed Reports have emerged from Biak that Indonesian armed police have disappeared local Papuan pro-democracy activist Anthon Kafiar.

At 15:00 local time on December 28, 2012, outside the offices of the Supiori Regent, several heavily armed police officers used pistols to accost and bundle Anthon Kafiar into a Four Wheel Drive Vehicle Type Avanza, numberplate DS 900 DD.  The vehicle then drove off, and Kafiar’s whereabouts remain unknown, according to local human rights worker Dorus Wakum, from NGO Kampak Papua.

It is not yet known if the police were local police officers, or roaming members from the Australian-funded special anti-terror Detachment 88 unit, whose members have engaged in a campaign of kidnappings and shootings against Papuan pro-democracy activists since the appointment of new Papua Police Chief Tito Karnavian, the former commander of Densus 88.

According to the NGO, Biak citizens and witnesses visited the Kapolres (local Police Chief), the Supiori Regent and Supiori Council members to demand that Kafiar be immediately found and released.

This is a developing story.  More to come.

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Update on Manokwari police beating of journalist Oktovianus Pogau

Statement/ Media safety briefing from Oktovianus Pogau, SuaraPapua.com

October 27, 2012

I (Oktovianus Pogau, a journalist at suarapapua.com and a freelancer for The Jakarta Globe) will report on a beating that I experienced, perpetrated by police in Manokwari, West Papua.

Journalist Oktovianus Pogau (Photo: Andreas Harsono)

On the 24th October, 2012, at around 16.00 Eastern Indonesian Time, I was accompanied by three journalists, two from Cahaya Papua (Duma Sanda and Patrick Tandilerung) and one journalist from Tabloid Noken (Jo Kelwulan) to Manokwari police station to meet with the Chief of Police for Manokwari, AKBP Agustinus Supriyanto S.Ik, as had been arranged on the evening of Tuesday (23/10) with the officer.

The Chief of Police had initially stated that he was not aware if members of the force had beat up journalists, then, when many journalists from Jakarta began to call the station inquiring about the incident, Supriyanto became adamant that there were no beatings of journalists by police.
Then, continued Supriyanto, 5-10 minutes later at around 20.00 Eastern Indonesian Time, there was a brief message from me to his phone (whereas I sent him an SMS at 13.29 WIT, 30 minutes after the beating) which stated that there had been a beating and that my neck had been strangled while I was covering an action by Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) (National West Papuan Committee) on Tuesday 23/10 in front of Kampus Universitas Negeri Papua (Unipa) (Papuan State University) which was supporting an international lawyers meeting in London.

Then, the Chief of Police conveyed himself as the supervisor and manager of all the police in Manokwari, Papua Barat, and didn’t question that the media publish (when shown the news headlines in Cahaya Papua which detailed the violence perpetrated by members of the police force against me) news about the aforementioned incident.

Supriyanto said that the relationships between all journalists in West Papua, particularly in Manokwari, is really good, and because of this, he personally regrets the incident of the beating, and in fact, was surprised that a member of the force would do something like this to a journalist.

Supriyanto said that he wished to offer a personal apology for the incident. He also said that there was also a possibility that the incident occurred because the police didn’t realise I was a journalist, and that they were also carried away with the emotion of the moment.

Because of this, the Chief of Police firmly requested that I identify the men responsible for the incident so they could be subject to due legal processes, as in line with my request.

However, Supriyanto also suggested that the case didn’t have to be resolved amicably, that is, to be resolved by making peace with the offenders. According to the chief of police, it could be a rather difficult process to find the offenders, as there were many members in the force, and certainly no-one would be honest, but he said again that it depended on me.

After the chief of police opened this conversation, he gave us all the chance to talk. Duma Sanda explained that there was an issue of freedom of the press, in which the work of journalists is universal, meaning, it doesn’t mean that just because I didn’t live and become a journalist in Manokwari, I didn’t have the right to cover the demonstration by KNPB.

Duma also firmly requested that the Chief of Police teach the men to respect the profession of journalism, and also to respect journalists like myself. And, to make himself clearer, Duma also requested that the Chief listen to a chronological account of the beating I experienced.

I introduced myself (officially) to the Chief of Police.  I told him about my work writing news for the paper Papua Pos Nabire and Tabloid JUBI during high school, about writing several columns in Tabloid Suara Perempuan Papua, the newspaper Bintang Papua, along with Papua Pos Nabire.  And I conveyed to him that I’d also covered stories for The Jakarta Globe and that this is still continuing, and then that I established suarapapua.com as an online media outlet.

I explained to the Chief of Police in chronological order the incident of the beating (you can read my previous email). After this, I conveyed a number of important issues to the Chief of Police that have to be understood about the incident of the beating.

I said that firstly, his men had violated the article KUHP on disorder; secondly, the men had violated article UU Kebebasan Pers 1999 (UU on Freedom of the Press 1999) by preventing the work of a journalist; thirdly the UU anti-discrimination; and fourthly, Intelligence didn’t have the authority to capture let alone beat someone and certainly they violated their work code.

Because of this, I requested that the problem not be resolved amicably/peacefully, but should be followed up through a more direct process of law. I said that it was important that the police officers be aware, and law enforcement officers should be an example, that if there are officers who are at fault, then they have to be punished as criminals so that the public can know.

Oktovianus Pogau

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BREAKING NEWS: SECURITY FORCES ATTACK KNPB DEMO IN JAYAPURA

BREAKING NEWS

WEST PAPUA MEDIA

10:00AM WEST PAPUA TIME, OCTOBER 23 2012

REPORTS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FROM WEST PAPUA  COMMUNICATIONS TEAMS OF CURRENT ATTACK BY INDONESIAN SECURITY FORCES ON KNPB DEMO IN JAYAPURA

Breaking News: Jayapura Police have started to disperse thousands of KNPB protestors with water cannon and tear gas, major beatings by thousands of riot police, scores arrested. No CONFIRMED reports currently of live fire being used, however troops are heavily armed with live rounds. Developing Story. More to come – please spread widely.

THIS IS A MAJOR DEVELOPING STORY – PLEASE STAND BY FOR MORE INFO.

EARLIER:

Confirmed info from Reliable contacts in Jayapura: Sourced from a Papuan TNI member who is Papuan, and who is informing our stringers:

Protestors to start at 10 am Papua time – likelihood of violent action by security forces – stand by
1. TNI have readied 5000 personnel, tanks (Panzer APC/ASLAVS) and helicopters in Jayapura. All are on a state of alert.

2. Just heard from one of the protestors on site that said police are gathered in large numbers in Jayapura

“Apparently a lot of people ), have flown down to Jayapura from Wamena these last days to join there as too unpredictable how Indonesian security forces may retaliate in Wamena.”

Last night, major sweeps occurred in Waena to arrest any higlander potentially involved in KNPB demos today. At 10:43pm, hundreds of fully armed police complete with equipment and Panzer armoured personnel carriers, scores of Avanza cars, overran National Housing Authority dormitory complex III (Yakuhimo regency student accommodation). Massive sweeping, many arrests, beatings, unconfirmed numbers.

KNPB members rallying across Papua today held prayers last night, telling WPM “we are ready to be killed today”. 10am Papua time rally start, massive violence expected from security forces. “It felt like the night before battle where only one side has guns, said WPM’s stringer. Please monitor.

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