Jakarta – The wife of Indonesian People’s Front for West Papua (FRI-WP) spokesperson Surya Anta, Lucia Fransisca, says that her husband was treated differently from other patients when he underwent a medical examination at the prison clinic.
As has been reported, Anta and five other Papuan students, Issay Wenda, Arina Lokbere, Charles Kossay, Ambrosius Mulait and Dano Tabuni, were recently transferred from the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters Detention Centre and are now being held at the Salemba prison in Jakarta.
“A doctor examined Surya, but not the way a patient is normally examined by a doctor. It was from a distance [without a physical examination], what’s going on with Surya?”, Fransisca told journalists following a pretrial hearing against their arrest at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday December 2.
Fransisca explained that she visited Anta on Friday November 29 and found that he and the other Papuan detainees were ill and had not received proper medical treatment.
She suspects that Anta is either suffering from an acute respiratory infection (ISPA) or dengue fever. This, she said, is based on her own observations of her husband who is lying in bed, is weak, nauseous, has a cold sweat and had suffered a high fever throughout the day.
Because of this therefore, she also said that a blood test is needed to find out what illness Anta is actually suffering from. “[He’s] only been given ordinary medication to bring down the fever. How can this be?”, she asked. “[He] should have a blood test to be sure”, she added.
Fransisca explained that all of the political prisoners in the alleged makar (treason, subversion, rebellion) case are being detained under inhuman conditions.
She explained that Salemba prison is already suffering from over capacity, there is a lack of clean drinking water and the food provided is made from low quality rice used in programs for the poor (raskin).
The six were charged with makar following a demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on August 28 in which the Morning Star independence flag was flown.
They were arrested one after the other on August 30 and 31 and were subsequently declared suspects on charges of makar.
On October 22 the lawyers representing the suspects submitted a pretrial suit with the South Jakarta District Court. The Papua Advocacy Team believes that there were procedural irregularities in the arrest and charging of the suspects.
“Our clients were never summoned as witnesses [first], but all of a sudden arrested and declared suspects”, said advocacy team member Oky Wiratama.
On November 18 the six Papuan activists were transferred from the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters Detention Centre to the Jakarta State Prosecutor and will soon be tried on charges of makar.
The police themselves claim that they followed correct procedures with National Police Public Information Bureau Head Brigadier General Argo Yuwono asking all parties to look at the facts during the upcoming trial.
“Just wait for the trial, let everything come out in the open like what actually happened”, Yuwono told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday November 20. (mjo/kid)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Istri Duga Surya Anta Idap ISPA dan Tak Dirawat dengan Wajar”.]
