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Schools facing closure after allowing students to take part in 'gladiator fight': Komnas Anak

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, September 21, 2017

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Schools facing closure after allowing students to take part in 'gladiator fight': Komnas Anak Seeking the truth: Bogor Police personnel and forensic team members from the West Java Police perform an autopsy on Hilarius Christian Event Raharjo's body on Sept.19 to reveal the cause of his death. (JP/Theresia Sufa)

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he National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), a non-governmental organization, demands that the Bogor administration close down two schools that allegedly allow new students to take part in gladiator-like fights.

It was not enough to only punish the students involved in the fight by expelling them from school, Komnas PA chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said.

"Schools must take responsibility. It's impossible the schools did not know it, as the gladiator fight has become an annual tradition for new students," Ariest told Tempo.co on Wednesday.

Hilarius Christian Event Raharjo, a student at SMA Budi Mulia senior high school, was killed in a gladiator fight against students from SMA Mardi Yuana, Sukasari, Bogor, in January 2016.

(Read also: Bogor Police exhumes body of ‘gladiator fight’ victim for autopsy)

Earlier, the case went viral when Maria shared her story on Facebook on Sept.12 asking President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to help her seek justice for her son’s death.

Komnas PA also demanded that the legal process against the perpetrators must be continued, saying, however, that they must use an approach based on the children's perspective, considering the perpetrators were only 15 years old.

Arist said his commission would continue to monitor the development of the case, urging the Bogor Police to accelerate the legal process.

The commission had sent a letter directly to the Bogor Police, asking them to step forward and proceed with the case.  “Unfortunately, it was not seriously handled. The Bogor Police is late to respond," Arist said.

After the police had performed an autopsy of Hilarius' body, three people had been named suspects in the case. (yon)

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