Jakarta – National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Commissioner Choirul Anam has revealed that the TNI (Indonesian military) and the Polri (Indonesian police) were involved in the case of a human cage found last month at the home of non-active Langkat Regent Terbit Rencana Perangin Angin.
This was discovered based on the results of an investigation carried out by Komnas HAM through testimonies from various parties and direct monitoring at the location of the human cage.
"There are findings on the knowledge and involvement of rogue TNI-Polri members. So we obtained testimonies that there were several rogue TNI-Polri members involved in the use of the cage", said Anam during a virtual press conference on Wednesday March 2.
Anam said they found evidence of violence and demeaning treatment committed by several TNI and Polri members against the occupants of the cage. He explained several of the acts of violence through physical exercise methods such as "hanging like a monkey".
"So if it is said for example physical exercise like that, sharing the methodology of physical exercise included hanging like a monkey", he said.
"What followed was there was a rogue TNI member who also committed violence. We obtained this information", added Anam.
Anam claimed that from the results of the investigation they already know which TNI and police personnel were involved and even have the names of the individuals.
"[We already have] the individual names and other supporting information including rank and so forth", he said.
Furthermore, Anam said that they have sent letters to the related institutions to conduct a follow up investigation so that the involvement of the TNI and police personnel can be uncovered.
"We are also coordinating with our colleagues in the Army, specifically the Army military police. We have sent a letter to the Army military police to request assistance to conduct an enquiry and investigation because there were rogue TNI involved in the cage [case]", he said.
Earlier, Komnas HAM carried out an investigation over several weeks related to the finding of a human cage at the home of the Langkat regent.
Meanwhile the North Sumatra Regional Police (Polda Sumut) Criminal Detectives Directorate said the alleged mistreatment resulting in the death of cage occupants has been raised to a criminal investigation.
"As a result of the case presentation investigators have raised it from an investigation to a criminal investigation based on two police reports designated number LP/A/263/2022/SPKT Polda Sumut, dated February 10, 2022, in the name of the victim Sarianto Ginting and police report number LP/A/264/2022/SPKT Polda Sumut, dated February 10, 2022, in the name of the victim Abdul Sidik Isnur alias Bedul", said North Sumatra regional police General Crimes Detectives Directorate Director Senior Commissioner Tatan Dirsan Atmaja through public relations division head Senior Commissioner Hadi Wahyudi on Wednesday. (yla/fra)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Komnas HAM: Anggota TNI-Polri Terlibat di Kerangkeng Bupati Langkat".]
