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Medan activists terrorized following suspicious death of colleague
A member of the North Sumatra chapter of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Amin Multazam, said the city's activists are in "an unsafe situation" following several terror attacks.
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Two men examine two Molotov cocktails, one broken and one whole, in 2018. (Via kompas.com/Dok. Mardani)
T
he Medan Legal Aid Institute (LBH Medan) in North Sumatra were reportedly recently terrorized by an attack when some unknown individuals threw a Molotov cocktail at its headquarters.
The incident occurred just days following the suspicious death of the city's environmental lawyer Golfried Siregar.
No casualties were reported in the attack. However, it has made the activists feel threatened, said LBH Medan deputy director Irvan Saputra.
"The terrorism aims to scare us," Irvan said after the attack last Saturday, adding that the police should thoroughly investigate the case. LBH Medan had provided the police with CCTV footage showing two unidentified men throwing the Molotov cocktail at its office.
A member of the North Sumatra chapter of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Amin Multazam, said the city's activists are in "an unsafe situation" following that and several other attacks.
He said a Molotov cocktail was also recently thrown at a coffee shop on Jl. Jati II in Medan. The place used to be the Medan activists' headquarters. "We are being terrorized."
The chief of the Medan Police's criminal investigation unit, Comr. Eko Hartanto, said the police were currently looking into the case. "We will soon reveal who the perpetrators are. I urge everyone to stay calm."
Golfried Siregar, a lawyer for the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), was found severely wounded on a roadside in Medan earlier this month. He died on Oct. 6 despite receiving treatment at the Adam Malik Hospital.
The police concluded that Golfried had been robbed while he was under the influence of alcohol. Walhi, however, formed an investigation team to look into the matter and it revealed a number of blunders in the case that had not been openly discussed by the police.
The team consisted of 18 people from Walhi, LBH, Kontras and the Indonesian Advocates Association (Peradi).
