Kompas - January 14,
2011
Jakarta – Three members of
the 753 Battalion are being tried by the Jayapura III-9 Military Court in the
case of the torture of Papuans that was uploaded on the YouTube website.
This was conveyed by army
(TNI AD) information office chief Brigadier General Wiryantoro on Thursday
January 13. ”The trial is open in nature and will be conducted in the framework
of achieving legal certainty", said Wiryantoro.
Wiryantoro said that on the
one hand the soldiers were carrying out their official dues. They were also
under pressure because there was evidence and information that many armed
people were carrying out attacks. "However methods of interrogation such
as this cannot be condoned and violate human rights", said Wiryantoro.
According to the
state-owned Antara news agency, the three members of the Cendrawasih
Regional Military Command (Kodam) are Second Sergeant Irman Risqianto, Private
First-Class Yakson Agu and Private First-Class Thamrin Mahanggiri.
At the first court hearing,
the three were declared guilty of being involved in the mistreatment of local
people while on duty during a security operation in an unstable area in Gurage
village, Tinggi Nambut sub-district, Puncak Jaya regency, Papua.
They were charged under
Article 103 of the Military Criminal Code, namely failure to comply with the
orders of a superior, and face a possible jail sentence of two years and six
months jail. Major Soemantri, an auditor, stated that because there was no
testimony by the victims, the three were not charged under the articles on
torture.
Earlier, four people were
charged under the same articles and sentenced to five and seven months in jail.
They are currently in the process of submitting an appeal.
Human Rights Working Group
Director Rafendi Djamin said that international concerns over various cases in
Papua has yet to provide the impetus for a concrete resolution to the human
rights violations in Papua. (EDN/DAY)
[Translated
by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Human
rights violations: Three members of army on trial in military court".]
