INDONESIA: The killing of a Papuan at a demonstration remains unpunished

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 16, 2009 -- The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is concerned that no one has been held accountable for the shooting of indigenous Papuan Mr. Opinus Tabuni over a year ago during an operation by armed forces, and no progress has been seen in the investigation. Mr. Tabuni was shot dead in Wamena during a celebration of the UN International Day of the World's Indigenous People, after a peaceful demonstration took place. The event was held to bring attention to the Papuan campaign for self determination and the human rights atrocities related to it.

CASE DETAILS:

According to local human rights organisations, around 20,000 indigenous Papuans from different Wamena Regency highland tribes gathered on the Sinapug field near Wamena city on the morning of August 9, 2008, to celebrate the United Nations International Day of the World's Indigenous People. The celebrations were attended by visitors from several other countries.

At around 2pm, after welcoming remarks from the Papuan Customary Community, a group of unknown persons appeared and ran through the crowd before raising a UN flag, an SOS flag, the Papuan Morning Star flag and an Indonesian national flag. The act wasn't scheduled, but rather an unofficial attempt to turn international attention to the problems facing the indigenous communities in Papua and urge more UN commitment on the issue. The Morning Star has been outlawed in Indonesia.

After 28 minutes armed police officers and agents from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) started firing their weapons into the sky, while standing about 3 to 4 metres from many of the protesters. Only some of them reportedly wore a uniform. The presence of army personnel was also reported. The participants dispersed in panic, and the firing continued for approximately 5 minutes, during which Opinus Tabuni was shot dead (his grave is pictured, left). Tabuni, 49, was a civilian who lived in the nearby Pyramid area, in sub-district Assologaima.

By 3pm all police and BIN staff had left the area, and a group of participants took Tabuni's body to the local office of the Customary Council, Dewan Adat Papua (DAP). The following day local human rights groups and the family of the victim helped take the body to the General Hospital in Wamena for an autopsy, where it was revealed that the bullet passed through the ribs and into the victim's heart. Following investigations, the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) concluded that the bullet was issued by the military.

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