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Incidents of torture by law enforcement agencies on the rise
Torturous progress: Activist Arief Nurfikri (center) and Yuliani Anni, daughter of death row convict Ruben Pata Sambo, listen to Haris Azhar, head of Kontras, on Friday
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Torturous progress: Activist Arief Nurfikri (center) and Yuliani Anni, daughter of death row convict Ruben Pata Sambo, listen to Haris Azhar, head of Kontras, on Friday. The organization released a report that the number of torture cases increased last year. (Antara/Reno Esnir) (center) and Yuliani Anni, daughter of death row convict Ruben Pata Sambo, listen to Haris Azhar, head of Kontras, on Friday. The organization released a report that the number of torture cases increased last year. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
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span class="inline inline-none">Torturous progress: Activist Arief Nurfikri (center) and Yuliani Anni, daughter of death row convict Ruben Pata Sambo, listen to Haris Azhar, head of Kontras, on Friday. The organization released a report that the number of torture cases increased last year. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
A study by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has found that the number of cases of torture committed by members of the National Police, the Army and prison staff is on the rise.
The study found that torture and intimidation of detainees during interrogation remained common despite the legal reforms that swept the country following the downfall of the authoritarian regime of former president Soeharto.
Kontras released findings from the survey, based on a year-long study, on Friday to mark the United Nations' International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, which falls on June 26.
Kontras, which used the same assessment framework used by the Committee Against Torture and the UN Human Rights Council, uncovered 100 incidents in which 225 civilians were allegedly tortured or intimidated by law enforcers during interrogation between July 2012 and June 2013.
The number has increased from 86 incidents involving 243 victims in the same period of the previous year and 28 incidents with 49 victims between July 2010 and June 2011.
The study found that the police were involved in 14 incidents of the total 100 cases, the military in 60 incidents and prison guards in 12 incidents.
Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar said the figure was likely to represent the tip of the iceberg as there was a lack of access to information and the victims often had neither the ability nor courage to report the incidents.
The practice of torture remains commonplace among law enforcers as Indonesia has no specific laws against torture.
'There has been no serious punishment meted out to law enforcers who commit acts of torture,' Haris told a press conference on Friday.
'The absence of laws on torture has led to apathy, if not, omission.'
Often the incidents are settled through internal mechanisms that provide for only lenient disciplinary sanctions.
Such internal mechanisms, Haris said, had led to impunity. 'Many reports are left cold,' he added.
Ruben Pata Sambo, a convict on death row for killing a family in South Sulawesi in 2006, is among Kontras' list of alleged victims.
Kontras, which has given legal assistance to Ruben, believes that the convict has been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. The commission claims he was tortured and intimidated into confessing the crime.
Recently, Kontras filed a report on Ruben's torture allegations to the National Police General Supervision Inspectorate.
Ruben's death sentence became one of the most controversial issues at the recent Fifth World Congress against the Death Penalty in Madrid, Spain.
In March, Muslim groups including Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) called on the National Police to dissolve Densus 88, the country's counterterrorism unit, in the wake of allegations that it had tortured, wrongfully arrested or killed suspected terrorists.
The groups said they presented the police with video footage depicting men in Densus 88 uniforms intimidating and torturing what appeared to be a suspected terrorist.
On Friday, Kontras called for an amendment to the Criminal Code.
'The revision must include specific provisions to prosecute those committing torture and those must be consistent with the definition on torture as outlined in the United Nations Convention against Torture, which was ratified by the government in 1998,' Haris said.
