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Activists slam lenient verdicts over Kanjuruhan soccer crush
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Football fans attend a rally in front of the city hall in Malang, East Java, on Nov. 10, 2022, demanding Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) to be responsible, fair, transparent and indiscriminate following the deadly stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium on Oct. 1, which took 135 lives.
(AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
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ivil society organizations expressed dismay over the verdicts of cases related to Kanjuruhan soccer crush including the acquittal of two police officers, saying they had failed to provide justice for victims of the tragedy.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said the authorities had failed in providing justice to the victims despite vowing to hold those responsible to account.
He said months after the tragedy that shocked the world, which saw 135 people killed during a stampede after a soccer match in Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java, only a handful of people had been convicted.
“Amnesty International Indonesia reiterates its calls to launch a prompt, thorough and independent probe into the appalling actions of security forces at the stadium, where tear gas was fired into the crowd triggering a stampede at the exits.
“The families of victims are understandably distraught at the meager results of the cases, which have fallen far short,” Usman said in a statement on Thursday.
On Thursday, the Surabaya District Court sentenced Hasdarmawan, who was a commander for East Java Police mobile brigade unit, to 18 months of prison for negligence in Kanjuruhan Stadium, less than the three years prosecutors asked for.
At the same court also on Thursday, judges declared Bambang Sidik Achmadi, former Malang Police officer accused of ordering his subordinates to shoot tear gas, not guilty. Another Malang Police officer Wahyu Setyo Pranoto was also found not guilty.
On March 9, the court jailed two soccer match officials for negligence, head of organizing committee Abdul Haris for 18 months and security official Suko Sutrisno for one year in prison. Prosecutors initially sought six years and eight months for both defendants.
Usman said the Kanjuruhan case should have been a chance to right wrongs in the Indonesian security forces that had long been entrenched in a broad pattern of violence and abuse, rather than repeating them.
“Lack of accountability also sends a dangerous message to members of the security forces who may be reassured that they can operate with a free hand and zero consequences,” Usman said.
A joint statement by Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) and other civil society organizations grouped under the Civil Society Coalition condemned the verdicts as too lenient.
“The verdicts are far from the expectations of the victims’ families, who wanted them to be punished severely and fairly to uncover high-level actors behind this tragedy,” the coalition said in a statement on Thursday.
The coalition said the ones punished had only been people working on the ground instead of those truly responsible for the tragedy while irregularities also plagued the trial proceedings such as restrictions to visitors and active police officers allowed to be the lawyers for the defendants despite possible conflict of interest.
The group also said during the trial proceedings, eyewitnesses were dominated by active police officers while those from the victims’ side were limited, and the defendants also tried to argue that the tear gasses shot after the match were aimed at the stadium tribune.
“The violence and suffering that supporters endured inside and outside the stadium were not wholly uncovered,” they said.
The coalition demanded the police investigate the tragedy in a transparent and independent manner.
They also urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to declare the Kanjuruhan tragedy as a gross human rights violation, and the Judicial Commission (KY) and Supreme Court supervisory body to investigate the judges presiding over the Kanjuruhan trials for alleged ethics violations.
