Demonstrations occurred at the same time in several cities in Indonesia on Monday demanding that authorities drop all charges and launch 7 Papuan activists implicated of treason at the Balikpapan District Court in East Kalimantan for their involvement in anti-racism protests in Jayapura, Papua in 2015.
In the capital city, lots took part in a rally held in front of the Supreme Court building in Central Jakarta on Monday at around 1 p.m. The protestors were seen holding banners that check out “Free 7 Papuan political detainees without conditions” along with the hashtag #PapuanLivesMatter
Based Upon The Jakarta Post‘s observation, lots of security workers from the National Authorities and some from the Indonesian Military (TNI) were deployed to the scene, sometimes cautioning demonstrators through megaphones to follow health procedures.
Video video published on the Indonesian Individuals’s Front for West Papua ' s (FRI-West Papua) Twitter account revealed that recently released previous political detainees, consisting of Surya Anta and Ariana Elopere, were likewise among the crowd.
Similar rallies occurred in other cities including Balikpapan, Jayapura and Sorong in Papua, Bogor in West Java, Yogyakarta and Malang in East Java, Indonesian human rights legal representative Veronica Koman said.
” The demonstrations are carried out concurrently today because the judges in Balikpapan [district court] will hand down the decisions on Wednesday,” she informed the Post
The seven activists were involved in anti-racism demonstrations in Jayapura in August last year following a racially charged occurrence involving Papuan college student living in a dorm in Surabaya, East Java. The trainees were physically and verbally assaulted by security workers and members of local mass organizations, who implicated them of declining to commemorate Indonesia’s 74 th Self-reliance Day.
While the demonstrations in Jayapura started out in harmony, they later turned violent, resulting in lots of injuries and several buildings being harmed. The 7 activists were jailed in Jayapura and were later relocated to be attempted in Balikpapan for security reasons.
The 7 accuseds in the trial in Balikpapan include Buchtar Tabuni, an executive of pro-Papuan independence group United Freedom Motion for West Papua (ULMWP), in addition to Agus Kossay and Stevanus Itlay of the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB).
They also include Jayapura University of Science and Innovation (USTJ) trainee union head Alexander Gobai, Cenderawasih College student union head Ferryboat Gombo and USTJ students Irwanus Uropmabin and Hengki Hilapok.
They have actually undergone judicial proceedings given that January and have actually dealt with trials considering that February this year, consisting of online trials considering that April amid the COVID-19 pandemic. District attorneys are seeking in between five and 17 years of prison for the seven activists.
On Friday, Papuan interfaith leaders released a statement to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, advising him to launch the accuseds unconditionally, saying that the state should be able to compare treason and reaction to bigotry.
The declaration was released by 26 leaders of different spiritual companies that consisted of Christian and Catholic confederations and the Papua chapters of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the Indonesian Buddhist Union and Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia.
They observed that the legal process against the accuseds was not procedural, pointing out approximate arrests and alleged intimidation that occurred throughout arrest. The leaders likewise slammed police for apparently stopping working to maintain the concept of anticipation of innocence throughout the investigation in addition to the transfer of the defendants outside Papua.
” To maintain the fact and the worths of justice in this nation, we need that the state be present and play a severe function in resolving the issue of bigotry and maintaining the law in a simply and dignified way,” the declaration read.
