Jakarta – The legal team representing Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) spokesperson Surya Anta has confirmed that their client was arrested by police at a shopping centre in Jakarta on the evening of Saturday August 31. Anta was arrested on charges of treason (makar).
Anta is one of eight people who were arrested. Currently he is still undergoing questioning at the Mobile Police headquarters (Mako Brimob) in Kelapa Dua, Depok, West Java.
“During the arrest, police explained the articles cited in the charges were makar related to Papua”, read a press release received by CNN Indonesia on Monday September 1.
According to the press release, the seven people arrested in addition to Anta are Carles Kossay, Dano Tabuni, Ambrosius Mulait, Isay Wenda, Naliana Wasiangge, Ariana Lokbere and Norince Kogoya.
One of the legal team members, Tigor Hutapea, said that two out of the eight are being detained while the others are still undergoing questioning.
“Carles Kossay and Dano Tabuni have already been detained, the remainder are still being questioned. They are charged under Articles 106, 110 and 87 of the KUHP [Criminal Code] on makar”, said Hutapea via an SMS message.
The legal team also revealed that Anta’s arrest was the fourth after police arrested two Papuan students on Friday August 30 at a dormitory in Depok, in which it is claimed that they broke down the front door and pointed pistols at dormitory residents.
The arrests took place at the same time as a solidarity action for Papua was being held in front of the Metro Jaya regional police on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile the third arrest – which was carried out by a joint team from the TNI (Indonesian military) and police – was the arrest of three women, also on Saturday, at a Jakarta house rented by students originating from Nduga regency in Papua.
“The arrests were carried out without warrants. The joint team of officers [making the arrest] also threatened them saying they weren’t allowed to take videos or pictures. The arresting officers even assaulted one of the women when they tried to break free”, read the press release.
Based on these revelations, the legal team is asking the police and other parties to stop conducting sweeps and resolve the conflict in Papua peacefully.
“We are urging the security forces, particularly the police to act professionally by prioritising the principles of human rights in responding to the incidents which are taking place. We are concerned that the excessive actions by police will worsen the problems related to Papua which are currently taking place”, he asserted. (agn/bir)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Kronologi Penangkapan Surya Anta Versi Tim Kuasa Hukum”.]
