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North Sumatra Police to conduct autopsies in Langkat cage case
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A journalist takes pictures of a cage situated in the residential compound of inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Perangin Angin in North Sumatra on Jan. 26, 2022. (Antara/Dadong Abhiseka)
T
he North Sumatra Police are set to conduct forensic examinations of the remains of three people who are believed to have died after being tortured in iron-barred rooms at the house of graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Parangin Angin, as authorities step up their investigation into the case.
The move came after the police and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) received information that fatal physical abuse had been inflicted on people who were kept in the cages.
The police have identified at least three people who are believed to have died during their time in the cages between 2015 and 2021, but added that there might be more victims.
"We suspect that there are other victims apart from the three that we have found," North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. RZ Panca Putra Simanjuntak said in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.id.
In addition, the police have also identified at least six victims who were physically abused while being held in the cages.
The cages were discovered by law enforcement authorities during a raid led by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to arrest Terbit last month. When the authorities discovered them, the cages held 48 people.
A cell was found at the regent's home, located in a 36-square-meter outbuilding that was divided by iron bars into two smaller chambers. They were being used to hold alleged drug addicts, teenage delinquents and several people who were believed to be working on Terbit’s oil palm plantations without receiving wages.
