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AKARTA: The failure of the Indonesian government to put on trial those responsible for the abduction and disappearance of 13 political activists in 1997-1998 will perpetuate human rights violations and legal impunity in Indonesia, an international rights group said on Wednesday.

“The Indonesian government must immediately implement recommendations by the [House of Representatives] to investigate and try those responsible for the abduction and disappearance of 13 political activists in 1997-1998,” Amnesty International said in a press statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

“The failure to follow the recommendations, issued on Sept. 30, 2009, to establish the truth about what happened to the disappeared and to hold the perpetrators to account perpetuates an ongoing human rights violation and the climate of impunity in Indonesia,” Amnesty added.

At least 13 political activists disappeared in 1997-1998 during the last volatile months of former president Soeharto’s rule. The whereabouts of these activists, five of whom disappeared in 1997, remain unknown.