J

AYAPURA: A lawyer has deemed that the Papua Police were too excessive in naming five Papuans as suspects of treason after meeting Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu in Jakarta, as they had only discussed and expressed the aspirations from the people of Papua and a document on the so-called West Papua Federal Republic (NFRPB).

'€œIt'€™s too excessive. They were just talking with the Defense Minister, but then they were directly named as treason suspects. The discussion was part of freedom of expression,'€ emphasized lawyer Olga Hamadi, representative of the five suspects who are currently being held at the Papua Police headquarters.

The five were identified only by the initials of EA, who is the chief of the NFRPB police; MJS, the commander of the Papua task force'€™s Sentani region and secretary of the Papuan Independence Committee (KIP); DF, the spokesperson of the KIP; LM, the chairman of the KIP; and OB, the spokesperson of the NFRPB.

Olga, who is also a member of the Papua chapter of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said that the suspects were already elderly, adding that they discussed and expressed their opinions on Papua and were not involved in any movement that had subversive elements.

Separately, human rights activist and recipient of the John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2005, Yan Warinussy, said the action taken by the Papua Police chief was a drastic setback in efforts to seek a solution in the framework of building peace in Papua in the future.

Yan added the meeting with the Defense Minister in Jakarta was aimed at building communications with the central government and not an act against the law so the group members should not have been labeled as separatists.