On Saturday April 25, hundreds of people from the Liberation Front against the Oppression of Papua (Front Pembebasan Penindasan Papua, FP3) went to the Papuan Provisional Parliament in the provincial capital of Jayapura where they held an action calling for a resolution to the human rights violations in Wamena and Wasior.

The action proceeded in a safe an orderly manner until the demonstrators arrived at the parliament grounds.

FP3 action coordinator Jeffry Pagawak took the opportunity to read their demands which include asking the head of the Papua regional office for legal affairs and human rights to take responsibility for the forced transfer of 11 prisoners from the Wamena Jayawijaya jail to the Gurung Sari jail in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar. FP3 said that the transfer had already caused many of the prisoners to suffer life-long disabilities and even die.

FP3 also asked for the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and the Attorney General to take responsibility for the delays in the investigation by the Wamena and Wasior Commissions for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations. “We demand that Komnas HAM, the Attorney General, the Minister for Legal Affairs and Human Rights and Indonesia’s Director General for Correctional Institutions immediately return the 11 prisoners from the Makassar jail to the Wamena jail or at the very least to a Papuan regional office for legal affairs and human rights. In addition to this [we demand] the immediate trial of the perpetrators of human rights violations in Wamena and Wasior. The government mustn’t keep this affair quiet”, said Pagawak.

The demonstrators also believe that past acts of violence committed by the TNI (Indonesian armed forces) and Brimob (Mobile Brigade) in Papua must be brought to trial. FP3 also rejects the plans for new army battalions to be headquartered in Merauke, Wamena and Nabire and a Kostrad (Army Strategic Reserves Command) command to be established in Timika.

Not long after the demonstration ended, Intel (Indonesian intelligence) officers and members of the Jayapura municipal police detained Pagawak. Papuan police have given no clear indication as to how long he will be held. Pagawak was detained without an arrest warrant so we were also surprised said a close friend of Pagawak (who asked that their name not be mentioned) after SPMNews contacted them via their mobile phone in Jayapura.

[Translated by James Balowski.]