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Team insists probe into Paniai case will continue

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has insisted that the investigation into the human rights violation case in Paniai, Papua, in which five civilians, including four students, allegedly died after being shot by security personnel, is not being put on hold despite the challenges it has met

Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post)
Jayapura
Sat, December 10, 2016

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Team insists probe into Paniai case will continue

T

he National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has insisted that the investigation into the human rights violation case in Paniai, Papua, in which five civilians, including four students, allegedly died after being shot by security personnel, is not being put on hold despite the challenges it has met.

The ad hoc team from Komnas HAM tasked with the investigation were in Paniai from Nov. 21 to 25 to complete the dossiers on three victims and two witnesses, member of the team, and Komnas HAM’s Papua representative, Frits Ramandey said on Thursday.

“The team, led by Manager Nasution, planned to draw up dossiers for 23 victims and witnesses but only five people came forward,” he said.

He blamed the lack of enthusiasm on the local people’s lack of faith in the numerous institutions coming to Paniai to investigate the case.

“The victims’ families argue that many teams have gone there following the incident, asking for information from victims and witnesses but so far none of the teams has announced the results of their investigations,” he said.

As a result, the victims’ families wanted Amnesty International to investigate the case, which was not easy to achieve because getting Amnesty to Paniai would require permission from the government.

Komnas HAM itself has already stated that there was a serious violation of human rights in the Paniai incident, he added.

For the sake of a thorough investigation of the case, Frits called on all involved parties to open themselves up to the commission’s ad hoc team in the drawing up of the dossiers.

He said the findings of the ad hoc team would be reported during the commission’s plenary session before the commission moved to the next step, including examining military and police personnel who were
on duty when the incident took place in Karel Gobay Square, Paniai, on Dec. 8, 2014.

Komnas HAM apologized to the victims and their families for the slow pace of the investigation into the case, said Frits.

The commission also asked for support from all parties including the victims, their families, churches, NGOs, as well as the military and the police to cooperate with the commission to get to the bottom of the case.

“This is to fulfill the sense of justice for the victims’ families and the people of Papua,” Frits said.

Local pastor Santon Tekege confirmed that the families of the victims of the Paniai incident had refused to meet with the Komnas HAM team and instead demanded an international body investigate the case.

“They don’t trust Indonesia or a team made up by Indonesia. That’s why they want to have the United Nations come to Paniai instead,” Santon said.

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