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n a case reminiscent of the New Order era, four Banyuwangi residents involved in a protest movement against local mining activities have been charged with spreading communism.

The Banyuwangi Police in East Java have accused the four residents of inscribing the hammer and sickle logo, the symbol of communism, on banners displayed by local residents in opposition to the gold mining activities of PT Bumi Suksesindo (BSI) and PT Damai Suksesindo (DSI) at Tumpang Pitu hill.

One of the suspects, Heri Budiawan, a resident of Sumberagung village in Pesanggaran subdistrict, was detained by the Banyuwangi Prosecutor’s Office on Monday following a police investigation into the case, Banyuwangi Police spokesperson Adj. Comr. Bakin said. “The case dossier has been declared complete and we have handed over [the dossier] to the prosecutors, who now have the authority [to process] the case,” Bakin confirmed on Monday.

He went on to say that the police had conducted the investigation in accordance with the proper procedures.

Heri and three other suspects, namely Cipto Andreas, Trimanto and Dwi Ratna, have been charged with Article 107 (a) of Law No. 27/1999 on state security. Under the article, spreading communism is considered treason and people convicted of it can face up to 12 years in prison.

The accusation was handed down after local residents held a protest on April 4 and displayed eleven banners emblazoned with messages expressing their opposition to gold mining in the area.

Later that night, police officials visited the protesters and accused them of adorning the banners with hammer and sickle symbols, the symbol of communism used by the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

The police offered photos of the banners with hammer and sickle symbols as proof. However, neither the Banyuwangi Police nor the Banyuwangi Prosecutor’s Office could offer up the real banners to prove the accusation, Subagyo, Heri’s lawyer from the Surabaya Legal Aid Institute (LBH), said.

“This case is unclear [including] where the banners were originally placed, where they are now and who made them. Eight banners are presented as evidence, but none of them bear the hammer and sickle symbol,” Subagyo told The Jakarta Post.

He went on to claim that officials from the local police and military district command were present during the making of the banners, and therefore the protesters wouldn’t have inserted communist symbols onto the banners.

“This is an apparent attempt at criminalization. This is not a criminal case, but is organized as though it is. They’re using communism as an issue because it’s easy to trigger a reaction that way.”

In 2006, the Banyuwangi regency granted a mining license to PT Indo Multi Niaga, who later transferred the license to PT Merdeka Copper Gold through two of its subsidiaries, namely PT BSI and PT DSI.

The local community has expressed opposition to the establishment of mining operations on the 450 meter hill since 1997, on the grounds that the exploitation of the land would damage the environment, threaten the livelihoods of farmers and raise the potential for natural disasters.

An advocacy team from the People’s Movement for Agrarian Sovereignty (Tekad Garuda), an organization that consists of environmentalists and human rights NGOs, has recorded at least five attempts at criminalization against eleven residents who rejected the gold mining activities in the regency.

The attempts range from accusations that residents had damaged drones belonging to the company to allegations of defamation against PT DSI, said Muhammad Afandi, the head of the advocacy and campaign division at the East Java chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).