Mesuji witnesses 'being terrorized'

The witness advocacy team working on the Mesuji killings has unveiled that some residents have been terrorized following their visit to the House of Representatives.

“These people are terrorized through being summoned by the police and accused of stealing company land,” advocacy team member Maj. Gen. (ret) Saurip Kadi said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Saurip, who led the entourage of witnesses to the House, said that he himself had also been terrorized, albeit in a slightly different manner.

“The terror is political, by creating issues that I had distorted the facts,” he said.

He said that instead of being acknowledged for exposing such a brutal incident, he had been accused of creating and spreading disgrace.

“But that is typical of the people involved, their immediate reaction is to fence themselves off, defend themselves and let go of responsibility,” he said.

Representatives of the Mesuji residents and members of their advocacy team attended the House Commission III on legal affairs and laws, human rights and security on Wednesday and claimed that at least 32 people had been killed since 2008 as part of alleged brutal violence between Mesuji villagers and a palm oil company.

Mesuji is an area located on the border between the provinces of Lampung and South Sumatra.