Pes Yanengga, Jayapura – The All-Papua Student Executive Council (BEM Se-Tanah Papua) Alliance has urged the Papua Regional Police Chief (Kapolda) and the Manokwari Municipal Police (Polresta) to immediately reveal the perpetrator of the shooting of the senior advocate and human rights activist Yan Christian Warinussy.
This was conveyed by the students during a demonstration at the Abepura traffic light intersection in Jayapura city, Papua, on Thursday July 25. The action was in response to the shooting of Warinussy in Manokwari on Wednesday July 17.
During the action, the students took turns in giving speeches and unfurled a banner reading "Papuan Advocates are under Threat".
Warinussy was shot by an unknown person in front of the Mandiri Bank on Jalan Yos Sudarso, Manokwari, at around 3.30 pm (https://jubi.id/polhukam/2024/advokat-yan-warinussy-ditembak-orang-tak-dikenal/). He is currently being treated at a Navy hospital in Manokwari.
The All-Papua BEM Alliance believes that the Manokwari police have been negligent in handling the case, including in finding and arresting the perpetrator of the shooting.
"We are asking the Manokwari Kapolresta [district police chief] to immediately bring the perpetrator to court. If the Manokwari i is not serious about bringing the perpetrator to court then a number of campuses in the land of Papua will hold a massive demonstration", said action coordinator Yally Dapla.
They also urged the police to deal with several other cases of intimidation and violence against activists and human rights defenders in Papua, including the terror bomb attack on the residence of senior Papuan journalist Victor Mambor.
Deputy action coordinator Toyai K. Keiya took the opportunity to highlight the performance of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) saying the institution has not been serious in conducting investigations in the effort to deal with human rights violations in Papua.
The students called on the Indonesian government to immediately withdraw all organic and non-organic troops from Papua.
End the violence in Papua
The also urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to visit Papua to investigate all the rights violations that have occurred in the land of Papua.
"The Indonesian state must immediately stop the terror against Papuan journalists, and stop threats against Papuan activists, give the right to self-determination to the Papuan nation as a democratic solution to overcome the problems in Papua", said Keiya.
The head of the Abepura sectoral police (Polsek) Deputy Commissioner Frengki Rumbiak said that they have communicated with the demonstrators and invited them to express their aspirations. "Please you have the right to democracy, the important thing is to be dignified and authoritative", he said.
The police also expressed their appreciation because the action proceeded peacefully and ended on the agreed time.
"The demonstrators, they understood and heeded the time we gave them, up until 12 noon local time, so we didn't request a large force to monitor the action. Just from the Abepura Polsek", he said.
Rumbiak added that if the All-Papua BEM Alliance is planning a second action, then they are free go ahead, providing it follows procedures.
"I you want to hold a second action it's no problem, what's important is that it's in line with procedures, the problems in West Papua that they want to convey to the Papua governor, the Papua Kapolda, or members of the DPR [House of Representatives] aren’t a problem, later it will be coordinated according to the leadership level. We who are on the ground [at the Polsek level] are ready to carry out our duties", he said.
[Translated by James Balowski. Some additional text was added for clarity. The original title of the article was "Aliansi BEM Se Papua Desak Polresta Manokwari Segera Ungkap Pelaku Penembakan Yan Warinussy".]
