The Jakarta Post, May 18, 2006
Abepura trial begins in Papua
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Jayapura District Court opened Wednesday the proceedings against 16 Papuans
allegedly involved in a March protest against U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan
Copper & Gold Inc. that left five security officers dead.
At the hearing, presided over by judge Morris Ginting, a team of four prosecutors, led
by Julius D Teuf, read out the charges against the defendants.
The defendants are accused of participating in the clashes that led to the deaths and
provoking people to act against the security personnel. If proven guilty, they could
face prison terms of up to 15 years.
The defendants appeared in court with a team of lawyers, led by Pascalis Letsoin,
coming from the Papua Peaceful Land advocacy group.
The defendants will be tried in eight separate trials, but charges were only read for
only seven of the case files. The reading of Nelson Rumbiah's charges has been
postponed because while the file stated his year of birth as 1987, he claimed in court
to have been born in 1989.
The trial was heavily guarded, with 239 police personnel from the Jayapura Police and
the Papua Police paramilitary unit (Brimob) securing the area. As spectators were
cleared by security, the defendants arrived at the court, their bus escorted by two
police cars.
During the trial, the defendants requested a transfer from Papua Police detention into
Abepura penitentiary to allow them to concentrate on their cases.
"We need to prepare, mentally, to face the trials. But if we continue to stay in police
detention, it will be hard to do since the victims in this case are police officers," said
defendant Selpius Bobii.
Presiding judge Morris Ginting, however, dismissed the request and said they would
continue to be held in police detention, as it would ensure security and make the
ongoing investigation easier. He asked the prosecutor to ensure their families at
easier access and urged the defendants to openly report on any abuse they met.
Lawyer for the defense Iwan Niode said the defendants were not safe in police
custody, and that they had been regularly hit by officers.
"I saw for myself a defendant, Patrisius Aronggear, be hit by an officer and other
defendants have said they have been hit, too. What happens if they're in the Papua
Police (detention)? Who can see if they're being beaten or not...," he said.
Judge Morris promised to complain about the alleged abuse to the chief prosecutors
and the police.
All the trials were adjourned until May 22 to provide time to examine witnesses.
The defendants were all detained after the March 16 clash when angry protesters
killed three policemen and an air force officer as hundreds of security forces tried to
break them up. Another policeman later died in a hospital.
The Freeport mine, situated in a remote region of Papua, is frequently accused by
environmental groups of polluting the area and unfairly profiting from outdated
concessions with the Indonesian government that date back to the Soeharto regime.
Various groups have accused the New Orleans-based company of earning billions of
dollars from gold and copper mining at the expense of the local population.
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