JPIC Desk, GKI di Tanah Papua 15/06/2012

Report about violent incidents in Papua between May and June 2012
Several violent incidents and shoot outs have occurred almost every day during the last three weeks. Some of the shoot outs have been committed by unknown perpetrators, whereas for some incidents the perpetrators have been found. JPIC has collected, investigated and analyzed several cases, which are described below.

A. Mysterious Shootings and Violence against Civilians in May 2012

1. Security Forces attack civilians with firearms at Degeuwo (15.05.2012) On 15.05.2012, at 5 p.m. Selpius Kegepe, Lukas Tobeta, Amos Kegepe and Yulianus Wagepa came from the gold exploitation site Kilo 99 to Kilo 45 to play billard. The tribal leader Melkianus Kegepe arrived later at Kilo 45, Degeuwo. When Selpius Kegepe, Lukas Tobeta, Amos Kegepe and Yulianus Wagepa arrived at the billard bar at Kilo 45, where the four young Wolani men met with Mrs. Ona (from Sangger) the owner of the billard bar. Mrs. Ona refused to give them balls if they would not pay in advance. The boys ensured Mrs. Ona that they would pay after they had finished playing, but she still did not hand over the balls. Since the boys knew the location well, they went to the place, where the balls had usually been stored, took a set of balls and started playing. Melkianus Kegepe arrived at the bar and stood close to the entrance door, as the young Wolani men were bargaining with the owner about the price. Mrs. Ona, who did not accept the men s bargaining attempt, directly called members of the mobile police brigade DANPOS (DANPOS BRIMOB), who are stationed at Kilometer 99, not far away from away Kilo 45. After that Mrs. Ona turned off the electricity supply, so that it became dark inside the bar. Selpius Kegepe, Lukas Tobeta, Amos Kegepe and Yulianus Wagepa asked why the woman had switched off the lights and reaffirmed that they would pay the bill. At 7.00 p.m., when the mobile brigade arrived at the bar, both parties had already started an argument. When the group approached the entrance door, the commander of DANPOS pulled his gun and shot down Melianus Kegepe, who was just watching the young men arguing with the owner. The bullet pierced his rib cage from left to right, which caused the immediate death of Melianus Kegepe. After that the mobile brigade members shot at the four Wolani men. Two bullets hit Amos Kegepe s left leg, another bullet pierced his lower right leg. Yulianus Wagepa was hit in the back by one bullet, Selpius Kegepe was hit his right arm, pierced the chest and the right part of his waist. Lukas Tobeta s stomach was pierced by one bullet. The men had to be evacuated to the public hospital at Nabire (RSUD Nabire), whereas Amos Kegepe was transferred to the Siriwini hospital Nabire the following day (16.05.2012) at 10.00 a.m.

Identity of victims: Dead victims: o Melianus Kegepe Age: 23 years old Religion: Christian protestant Status: Married Injury: Bullet pierced his rib cage from left to right Victims with Severe Injuries: o Selpius Kegepe Age: 22 years old Religion: Christian protestant Status: Single Injury: Bullet hit his right arm, pierced the chest and the right part of his waist o Amos Kegepe Age: 22 years old Religion: Christian protestant Status: Single Injury: Two bullets hit his left leg, another bullet pierced his right lower leg o Lukas Tobeta Age: 20 years old Religion: Christian protestant Status: Single Injury: One bullet pierced his stomach o Yulianus Wagepa Age: 24 years old Religion: Christian protestant Status: Single Injury: Was hit in the back by one bullet and bullet remained in his body

Case Analysis All mining sites in regencies Paniai and Nabire are located at indigenous owned land. The mines are run by people from other parts of Indonesia and Papua who only pay little or no compensation at all to the local indigenous landowners. Their businesses are often protected by members of police (Brimob) and military (TNI) although most businesses have not been approved in accordance with legal procedures. The entrepreneurs owning gold panning sites and mines have to pay obligatory protection money to the security forces. Mrs. Ona s business is mostly used by migrants. She has been running her business for long time at Degeuwo and is therefore addressed as kakak (older sister) by the locals, who seem to come to her billard bar without restraints. The excessive force used by the security members can be seen as indicator for the unwillingness for compromise and lack of respect towards the local people and their indigenous leaders who are the legitimate owners of the land rights at Degeuwo. Killings and shoot-outs like this latest incident, in which indigenous local people have become victims, have occurred many times at Degeuwo. The indigenous land, which has been occupied by migrants for business purposes, is a constant cause for a high conflict potential in the area. In previous cases, perpetrators having committed human rights abuses have only been replaced by other officers.

2. Attempted Assassination of Dietmar H. Pieper at Base G Beach, Jayapura (29.05.2012)

Case Narrative: On 29.05.2012 a German tourist with the name Dietmar Helmut Pieper (55 Jahre) was shot down by unknown perpetrators at Base G Beach (Jayapura City) at approximately 11.30 a.m. (East Indonesia Time). The victim was accompanied by his life partner Eva Medina. A cottage owner had seen the couple twice at Base G Beach during the previous week. According to her and two other witnesses, Mr. Pieter and his wife had arrived at Base G at 08.00 (East Indonesia time), where they rented a open cottage approximately 40 meters away from the entrance gate. Eva Medina and other witnesses stated that they had already noticed the three cars, two Toyota Avanzas and one Toyota Rush, driving up and down the small unpaved road which follows the coast line of Base G Beach. Around 11.20 (East Indonesia time), several minutes before the incident took place, Dietmar Pieper and his wife left the water and took a rest at their cottage. At that time the beach had also been visited by many local guests. As the cars once again passed by, the perpetrator stepped out of a blue Toyota Avanza, approached both tourists and released three shots from a distance of approximately 5 meters at the victim. The bullets pierced Mr. Pieper 's left torso once and his left thigh twice, while his wife remained unharmed. According to Eva Medina 's statement, the perpetrator was a local with curly hair and a shaggy beard, who wore camouflage clothes. The perpetrator and his accomplices immediately left the site of crime with their cars. After the cars were out of sight, one of the witnesses brought the victim and his wife to the emergency unit of Dok II Hospital at Jayapura, where Dietmar Pieper underwent a surgery. He is currently treated at the intensive care unit, but will be flown to Singapore today for further medical treatment. Since Dietmar Pieter 's admission to the ICU, the entrance to the intensive care unit is strictly monitored by members of the police intelligence unit and armed police officers. According to the director of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Regional Police in Papua (Polda Papua), Mr. Wachyono, the investigating police officers found bullets at the scene of crime and are currently tracking down the perpetrator. Case Analysis: It is very likely that the incident was planned and executed by the perpetrator and his accomplices on behalf of orders from a third party. The perpetrator did not seem to have an obvious motive for the crime. He neither tried to rob money or valuables, nor seems to be any connection between the tourist couple and the perpetrator. Furthermore, the perpetrator seemed to have chosen his victim carefully, leaving Mr. Pieper 's wife, who was located only several meters away from her husband, and other nearby local guests unharmed. The above mentioned points and the fact that the perpetrator acted as part of a group of people who carefully observed the location before committing the assassination, excludes that the incident was an affective deed, carried out by a single perpetrator or a smaller independently acting group of people, (e.g. a gang). The perpetrator and his accomplices must have had access to financial resources and firearms or connections to a third party who was able to supply the group with cars and fire arms. Car types like the above mentioned Toyota Avanza and Toyota Rush are expensive and usually owned by people working for the government, a government related institution, government-supported organisations or business men. Moreover it is conspicuous that the crime was committed by a man, who was described as a local Papuan with curly hear and a shaggy beard, using camouflage clothes, which is a highly stereotyped and prejudiced image of people from the central highlands and supporters of the Papuan Independence Movement (OPM). It is very likely that the attempted murder was planned and should deliberately be carried out by a Papuan man, whose outer appearance applies to the above mentioned characteristics, in order to create a bad image of Papuan people, especially those from the central highland region.

3. Killing of Anton Arung Tambila at Mulia, Puncak Jaya Regency (29.05.2012) Besides the incident on Base G Beach (Jayapura City), another shoot-out took place on 29.05.2012 in the evening at Mulia, Puncak Jaya Regency. A teacher with the name Anton Arung Tambila was shot dead at his house. The perpetrator had come to the victims kiosk to buy sugar. After Mr. Tambila had served him, the perpetrator suddenly fired at the victim s face from outside the kiosk. The bullet pierced the victim s cheekbone and caused his immediate death at the site of crime. The Puncak Jaya Regency remains one of the areas in Tanah Papua, where mysterious shoot-outs have constantly taken place since now. Although there have been several similar incidents in the region, the police has not been able to arrest any perpetrator. Case Analysis Mr. Tambila has already lived and worked since ten years in Mulia and is therefore well known by the local people. The incident is one of numerous similar shoot-outs at Puncak Jaya Regency, where the perpetrator could not be arrested or identified. Even members of security forces have become victims of violent shoot-outs that constantly occur in Puncak Jaya and it remains unpredictable when incidents like the one mentioned above will end and who has planned and carried out the crimes.

B. Incidents related to KNPB Demonstrations

1. Yesa Mirin tortured and killed after escalations at Kampung Harapan (04.05. 2012) Biodata of the Victim: Name : Yesa Mirin Nick Name : Yek Place of Birth : Londinin (Eipomek district/ Pegunungan Bintang regency) Date of Birth : 06 June 1990 Profession : History student at UNCEN, Fakulty FKIP, Semester 3 Status : single Case Narrative On Monday, 04.05.2012, Yesa Mirin started to gather with some of his friends and other KNPB activists at the junction Jl. Ifar Gunung Sentani at 09.00 a.m. They had come together because they wanted to join the KNPB demonstration at Taman Imbi Jayapura, which had been organized to claim a fast and independent police investigation on the attempted assassination of a German tourist at Base G Beach on 29.05.2012. Some of the demonstrators including Yesa Mirin, wore traditional clothes and brought traditional weapons. At 10.30 they were picked up by trucks and other vehicles, which should bring them to Waena in order to pick up other demonstrators. The Yesa Mirin and his friends followed the convoy in a public transport vehicle. As the convoy wanted to pass Cape Elmo between Harapan village and Waena, security forces had blocked the road and ordered the demonstrators to return to Sentani.

As demonstrators became angry because they were not permitted to go to Jayapura, the convoy stopped at 11.00 a.m. at Kampung Harapan, where the KNPB crowd started vandalizing, throwing stones and released arrows at stores, located close to the junction which leads to SPMA campus. The security forces reacted by firing warning shots and dispersing the vandalizing mob, so that the people started to flee in panic, trying to save their lives. Some of the demonstrators reacted by shooting arrows at the security forces, who returned the attack with their fire arms. Yesa Mirin and his friends tried to flee the location with the chartered public transport vehicle, they had used before, while the security forces approached the fleeing mob. As the car already started to move Yesa Mirin was hit by a bullet at the lower left part of his back. The bullet caused Yesa falling off the back of the car in front of the road which leads to the SPMA campus. According to information of hospital employees, security forces brought the victim's body approximately at 02.00 p.m. to Yowari Hospital Sentani, about two and a half hours after the victim was hit by a bullet. The victim s body was directly transferred to the mortuary, where security forces guarded the front door. At 07.00 p.m. the one of the victim s family members was informed about Yesa Mirin s death by a friend from Oksibil, who had recognized Yesas face at the hospital. As relatives arrived at the hospital they had to witness that there were signs of beatings allover Yesa Mirins body, his neck was swollen and seemed to be broken, the head was overturned and blood had been running from his nose. The family had to realign the head to the front using their hands to bring the head back to normal position. They had to stay all night in the hospital until they were finally given permission by the police chiefs (Kapolda & Kapolres) to bring Yesa Mirins dead body to his house at BTN Puskopad on 05.06.2012, at 04.00 pm, The family did not insist on an autopsy of the victim s body. The burial ceremony took place on 06 June 2012 at 02.30 pm. Even though the victims family reported the burial to the police and promised to maintain security, the police strictly guarded and escorted the funeral procession from Sentani to the cemetery at Waena, using seven trucks loaded with fully armed Brimob members, one patrol car, one armored vehicle (Baracuda) and a vehicle with a tear gas launcher. When the funeral procession arrived at the cemetery, police and military members had already encircled the area, where the burial took place until 03.15 pm. After the ceremony police forces confiscated one car (black Toyota Avanza with plate number DS 1853AH) and a motorbike (Honda Revo) without any explanations or reasons. Case Analysis: Even though nobody directly witnessed the Yesa Mirin s death, the wounds all over his body lead to the conclusion that Yesa Mirin has become the victim of torture and extrajudicial killing, committed by security forces. After the victim was hit by a bullet at the lower part of his left back and fell off the back of the car, members of the police forces arrested Yesa Mirin, but did not directly bring him to the hospital for medical treatment. It is not clear where Yesa Mirin was brought during the two hours between the arrest and the time when police members reportedly brought the victims corpse to Yowari Hospital. The distance between Kampung Harapan and the Yowari Hospital at Doyo Baru can be driven in 20 minutes, whereas the police needed two hours. Message from the Victims Family: The victim's family felt highly disappointed, disturbed and intimidated by the behavior of security forces during the time as the funeral took place. The victims mourning family members and friends were strictly guarded even though the bereaved had promised to prevent violence and maintain

security. Relatives and friends regarded this behavior as a sign of disrespect towards them and the death of Yesa Mirin. The victims family demand justice and claimed that the perpetrators who have committed the murder of Yesa Mirin should be tried and sentenced in accordance to legal procedures. Pictures of the Victim:

Victim's head must be held so as not to turn to the left

The wound caused by the bullet

2. Death of Fanuel Tablo Biodata of the Victim: Name: Fanuel Tablo Place of Birth: Okbemtau village (Pegunungan Bintang Regency) Fanuel Tablo was shot down at Hawai (Dunlop) the victim s death seems to be related to the above mentioned incident at Kampung Harapan. Since now there is no further information about the killing of Fanuel Tablo. The victim died at Yowari Hospital, on 06 June 2012, and his body was sent to his home village Okbemtau for burial. According to eyewitnesses police officers brought Fanuel Tablo alive to Yowari Hospital Sentani. His body showed injuries at the victims left shoulder, which were caused by a long knife and a wound at the back of the head, caused by a bullet. 3. Sweeping Operations at Sentani According to the eyewitness report of a Papuan student (name has not been mentioned for security reasons), who returned from the university on 04 May 2012, members of Indonesian security forces fired several shots at him without hitting him. Then he was encircled by ten fully armed security force members. The student confessed that he did not take part in the demonstration but just returned from the university campus. Finally the security force members allowed the student to continue his way back home. The incident happened 02.20 pm (East Indonesia Time) at Jalan Pasir Sentani. Another student witnessed that at least four motorbike taxi drivers pulled guns and started to fire at demonstrators who had escaped from the incident at Kampung Harapan. The motorbike taxi drivers commanded the student to remain at the stay calm so that security forces would not confuse him with demonstrators and accidently fire at him.

C. Mysterious Shootings and Violence against Civilians in June

04 June 2012: On 04 June 2012 at 09.30 pm, the teenager Gilbert Febrian Madika (16 years), a high school student of Kalam Kudus Senior High School Jayapura was shot by an unknown perpetrator at the main road between Entrop and Abepura, Skyline. The victim was riding his bike when another motorbike suddenly approached him from behind. The perpetrator directly fired from a close distance. The bullets hit the victim in the back. After that the perpetrators fled. The victim was finally rescued by another vehicle passing him at Skyline. 05 June 2012: On 05 June 2012 at 09.45 pm, a member of TNI Denzipur Waena Jayapura named Pratu Frengky Kune (25 years) was shot dead by unknown perpetrators while he was riding his motorbike on the main road between Abepura and Entrop close to the Surabaya Motor store. The bullet pierced the victims chin from the right to the left. The same day at 10.10 pm two young men named Iqbal Rifai (22 years) and Ardi Jayanto were shot by unidentified perpetrators at Samratulangi Street, close to the Papuan Provincial Relations Office, which is located approximately 30 meters away from the POLDA Papua headquarters. Iqbal suffered one gunshot. The bullet pierced his lower Torso from the right side of his hip to the stomach. Jayanto Ardi was hit at the back of the waist. Both were treated at Dok II Hospital, Jayapura. According to the victims the perpetrators were also riding a motorbike. 06 June 2012: Another incident happened on 06 June 2012 at the new road close to the Mayors office Jayapura. This time a civil servant named Arwan Apuan, working at TNI Cenderawasi KODAM XVII military base was attacked with a firearm. The bullet pierced the victims head from left neck to the jaw. 07 June 2012: On 07 June 2012 Teyu Tabuni was shot by police officers at Dok 5. Mr. Tabuni just wanted to ask for water in a small street restaurant as police officers started to chase him without reason. As Mr. Tabuni started to run away because he was afraid of the policemen the officers shot him down without any reasonable suspicion. Teyu Tabuni fell down and died at the site of crime due to a headshot. The bullet was found inside the victims head. The victims family was angry and finally blocked the road in order to demand that the perpetrators, police, governor and TNI (Pangdam) must be held responsible for the victims death. The same day at approximately 03.00 pm police arrested Buchtar Tabuni, the chairman of KNPB (West Papua National Committee), because he was suspected of having violated an agreement not to engage in illegal activities. The police also arrested Riber Weya and Hengky Oalua. The agreement was made because Buchtar Tabuni had violated law before at prison on 3 December 2010. He was released with the agreement not to commit such violations again. On 07 June 2012 the police arrested him because he had led KNPB demonstrations, but officials also used Mr. Tabunis arrest as if he would be responsible for shootings and terrorist activities. In newspapers and national TV Buchtar Tabuni was described as mastermind, responsible for various cases which could not be solved and the perpetrators could not be identified, although it must be assumed that mysterious shootings will continue at Jayapura and other places in Tanah Papua.

10 June 2012: Another mysterious shooting occurred on 10 June 2012 at the parking space in Front of the FKIP University Building at Abepura. Tri Sarono (45 years) was shot dead by unknown perpetrators at 09.30 pm. The bullet pierced his neck and the left part of his back. Mr. Sarono was an employee at Saga Mall Abepura, who also worked as security and motorbike taxi driver. Brutal Acts of Retaliation by the TNI Batalyon 756 at Wamena (06.06.2012) Case Narrative: On 06.06.2012 two members of TNI Batalyon 756 crashed a child with a motorbike at 02.30 pm at Honelama village. Instead of helping the child, the two soldiers tried to escape. The people who witnessed the incident became angry and started to chase after the two TNI soldiers. Between 03.00 pm and 05.30 pm TNI members launched sweepings, shooting randomly at indigenous people and burned several houses at Honelama and Sinakma village. Many people fled to other areas they considered as safe because the police blindly went after people using their firearms and knifes during the sweeping operation. Temporary Number of Victims: There were 9 civil victims and 4 TNI victims. According to TNI information one soldier died during the sweeping, two were wounded and another soldier was still in critical condition. 9 civilians were hit by bullets and temporarily 75 people were reported as injured and ran to the forest. Only 11 could be found again.

No 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Name of Victims Elius Yoman Yeremias Kogoya Nabus Nerigi Epius Kemelak Ikenus Wenda Lenius Wenda Opniel Kerebeal (student of SMU Negeri I) Lenius Hubi Ince Nitanggae (student of SMU YPK) 2 unidentified victims

Condition of Victims Dead Stabbed by bayonet in the shoulder Stabbed by bayonet in the back Stabbed by bayonet in the back Stabbed by bayonet in the head and right side of his back Stabbed by bayonet in the shoulder Stabbed by bayonet Stabbed by bayonet in the shoulder Bullet pierced his thigh Heavy injuries at the skull, brain excavated

Material Damage: 31 houses were burned and 44 houses destroyed, one car and seven motorbikes were burned. The situation at Wamena is still tense. Journalists and humanitarian organizations had difficulties to reach the location. Hospitals were strictly guarded by police and military.