Papua soldiers face reduced charges

THREE Indonesian soldiers who videoed a West Papuan man's agony as they repeatedly poked a fiery stick at his genitals have been charged with ignoring their commander's instructions.

Human rights activists say the video is clear evidence of abuse and that the three soldiers from battalion 753 should face Indonesia's human rights tribunal.

But instead the soldiers are standing trial in a military court, where they have been charged with failing to follow orders.

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Military prosecutor Major Sumantri said soldiers were supposed to ''interrogate people in a persuasive way''.

But when Second Sergeant Irwan Rizkianto, First Private Thamrin Mahangiri and First Private Yopsen Agu ''tied up the victim's head into a plastic bag'' then ''[burnt] the victim's pubic hair'', they were disobeying orders, Major Sumantri said.

While the soldiers confessed to the attack, Major Sumantri said no assault charges were laid because ''there is no victim''.

''The victim didn't report to us as a witness,'' he said.

Reports from West Papua have identified the man who was tortured as Tunaliwor Kiwo, but he has not been seen since the video was taken in May last year.

It is the second time in three months that video evidence of soldiers torturing Papuans has surfaced, fuelling allegations that the military systematically tortures supporters of the Free Papua Movement.

But Komnas HAM, Indonesia's human rights commission, reviewed the video and found there was no ''evidence that violence was carried out in a systematic way to murder Papuans''. SOURCE