Human rights activists say President lied on violations in Papua

Human rights activists in Papua deem the president's claim that no gross human rights violations occured in Papua under his administration as a complete farce. The statement was made by the president during a meeting between police and Indonesian military leaders.

The secretary general of Central Papuan Student Association, Markus Halo, said the statement undermined the feelings of Papuans who had been suffering from intimidation and torture.

Tortures carried out by three members of the army's 753 Batalion was a clear proof of the existence of human rights violations in Papua, Markus said. The three soldiers are now in trial, with prosecutors seeking up to 12 months of imprisonment.

“The president lied. How can he speak of no violations when there is,” Markus said at KontraS headquarters in Central Jakarta as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Saturday.

KontraS deputy coordinator for Papua Olga Hamadi claimed that many had bear account to numerous violations conducted by the military in Papua, but no one could do anything.

“Us civilians can only watch and campaign through human rights movements,” he said.