TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Kendari student protesters may have been unlawfully killed: Kontras
Witnesses said Yusuf died a day after the incident, while Randi passed away shortly after being shot.
Change Size
In Denpasar, Bali, hundreds of student demonstrators write protest slogans on a road in front of the Regional Legislative Council building. (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)
T
he Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has claimed that police personnel may have unlawfully killed two university students in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, during a student protest in the city last month.
The commission urged the police to identify and firmly punish the perpetrators if found guilty to avoid similar incidents from happening in the future.
Kontras coordinator Yati Andriani revealed during a press conference on Monday that a student from Haluoleo University in Kendari, Muhammad Yusuf Kardawi, was the first victim "to fall on the ground" while the police were trying to disperse the rally held in the heart of the city. He was believed to have been shot by the police before the second victim named La Randi also collapsed after being shot.
A witness who intended to help Yusuf retreated upon seeing a man pointing a gun at him from inside the city's manpower agency's compound. "Our witnesses believe this man was a police officer, as the compound was filled with security forces during the rally," Yati said.
The witnesses further revealed that Yusuf, who stumbled to the ground, was then approached and assaulted by police personnel using their batons. Friends who rushed the victim to a nearby hospital said his head was bleeding severely and the skull appeared to be fractured.
Yusuf died the following day, while Randi died soon after being shot. "The bullet hit his left arm and came out on the right hand side of his chest," Yati said, describing the police actions as "disproportionate, excessive and unwarranted."
The incident on Sept. 26 occurred amid a series of rallies held by tens of thousands of students nationwide since Sept. 23 to protest against several controversial bills, including a revision of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law that was regarded by the demonstrators as an attempt to roll back the country's anticorruption commitment.
