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INDONESIA: Police officers severely torture a man and shoot him, making impossible claims that he had been trying to escape

June 26, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-066-2009

http://www.ahrchk.nethttp://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAC-066-2009

26 June 2009
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INDONESIA: Police officers severely torture a man and shoot him, making impossible claims that he had been trying to escape       

ISSUES: Torture, extrajudicial execution
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man who was shot dead by police while in custody was not trying to escape at the time, as the police have suggested. The victim, who was arrested on April 2, 2009 by police officers in North Jakarta and was pronounced dead on April 4, reportedly had at least ten stab wounds to his legs when he was shot, along with other injuries. The case suggests a halfhearted cover up of torture and execution on various levels within the station, which has not yet been legally addressed. 
 
CASE DETAILS: (According to the victim's family)

On April 2, 2009 at 2pm Mr. Munadi received a phone call from his daughter-in-law Ade Nur, telling him that his son had been taken away by six or seven people who claimed to be officers for the North Jakarta police force.

Munadi went straight to the North Jakarta police station after the call, but was told that no one had been detained from the Galur area of Cempaka Putih that day, where his son Bayu Perdana Putra had been. Munadi inquired at two neighboring police offices but was told the same thing. He returned to the North Jakarta police station at 5:15pm, but there was still no word. 

At 11pm Munadi received another call from Ade Nur; the police had returned she said, and ransacked the couple's rented room. They didn't find anything and one officer left his number with Ade Nur (021-97301867) so Munadi called it and, to get through, pretended to be a friend of the policeman. But when the officer took the call Munadi says he heard his son screaming for mercy in the background. Munadi asked who was screaming and asked the police to stop harming them; the officer pretended not to hear and hung up. Five minutes later the officer called back and asked who the caller was, and when Munadi explained that he was the father of Putra the officer hung up again. 

Munadi went straight back to the station (at around 11:30pm) and went to the fourth floor to meet with those in the office of the second highest detective in command, Mr. Santoso. Munardi recounted what had happened that day and asked after his son, and an officer looked into it and told him that Bayu was being held in Bogor, West Java. Munardi went home.

On April 4 at 3pm Munardi got a phone call from Ade Nur, who told him that Bayu had been pronounced dead in CM Hospital from two gunshot wounds to his chest and stab wounds on both his legs. It is not clear on which day he had died.
  
Meeting with Santoso, Munadi was told that Bayu had been shot by the police after he tried to escape during a crime scene reconstruction. Yet in the hospital later that day he found his son's corpse covered with other wounds, including gaping wounds on his wrists and hands and more than 10 stab wounds on his legs. They were not wounds, he says, of a man who would be able to run away. 

Despite phone calls and visits to the police station, Munadi was unable to get anyone to help him with the release of the body from the hospital. On April 5 around 11am an officer finally arrived from the police station to arrange their collection of the body, which the family buried in their village in Cirebon, West Java.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the local authorities listed below to demand an immediate investigation into the operation of police at the North Jakarta Police Station and in Bogor, West Java, with due disciplinary and legal action taken against those found guilty of participation in the torture, murder and the following cover up. Please ask for the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission to ensure that the victim’s family receives proper redress and compensation.

Please also be informed that the AHRC has written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, calling for an intervention in this case.

http://www.ahrchk.nethttp://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAC-066-2009

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

INDONESIA: Police officers severely torture a man and shoot him, making impossible claims that he had been trying to escape       

Name of victim: Bayu Putra Pradana
Alleged perpetrators: Officers in Bogor, West Java, and North Jakarta.
Date of incident: April 2 to 4, 2009
Place of incident: Bogor, West Java and the North Jakarta Police Station

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding an incident of torture involving the North Jakarta Police. Bayu Putra Perdana was arrested on April 2, 2009, though his family were not told where he was being held. When his father Munadi called a policeman involved in the arrest, he heard his son screaming in the background. He was unable to get the help he needed from other officers, including Mr Santoso, who is reportedly the second highest detective in command at the North Jakarta Police Station.

Two days later Munadi was told that Bayu was dead: shot by the police after he tried to escape during a crime scene reconstruction.

However in the hospital later that day he found his son's corpse covered with other wounds, including gaping wounds on his wrists and hands and more than 10 stab wounds on his legs. They were not wounds, he says, of a man who would be able to run away.
  
This case demonstrates the abuse of power by police officers while conducting arrests and holding suspects in detention. It further illustrates how the numerous flagrant human rights violations by police coming out of this area is deeply institutionalised and needs urgent, close attention.
This case is a blatant example of the futility of the Indonesian government’s ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1998. It should be noted that Indonesian citizens have every right to be protected from disproportionate police action while being interrogated as suspects. Furthermore the suspected person has every right to file a lawsuit concerning the lawfulness of his/her detention as well as any physical action that could be deemed as disproportionate when conducted in the period of apprehension and/or detention.
  
I call for an immediate investigation to be conducted into the operation of the North Jakarta police station and the station involved in Bogor, West Java, where it appears that torture and summary executions are condoned and carried out by staff. This situation points to a shocking over confidence among police in their own impunity, and a disregard for law, justice or due process among law enforcers. This action is important to secure the impartiality, transparency and accountability of police authority in the country. In this respect, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission must also play a part in ensuring that the victims receive proper redress, and that police officers are trained to understand their legal powers and respect human rights laws. 

Please also be informed that the Asian Human Rights Commission has written to the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions informing him of this case.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri
Chief of National Police
Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 721 8012
Fax: +62 21 720 7277

2. Inspector Gen. Wahyono
Chief of Regional Police (KAPOLDA) Metro Jaya
Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Jakarta
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 5234000
Email: info@reskrimun-metro.org 

3. Mr. Comm. Rycko Amelza Dahniel
Chief of North Jakarta Regional Police
Polres Metro Jakarta Utara
Jalan Yos Sudarso No. 1 Jakarta Utara
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 43931017
Fax : +6221  43931017
Email: polres.jakartautara@polres-jakut.com

4. Mr. Drs. Suhardi Alius, MH
Coordinator Secretary of Chief of National Police (KORSPRIPIM)
Jl. Trunojoyo No.3, Jakarta
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 7218144
Fax : +62 21 7260208
Email: info@polri.go.id 

5. Mr. Ifdhal Kasim
Chief of Indonesian Commission on Human Rights (KOMNAS HAM)
Jln. Latuharhary No. 4B, Menteng,
Jakarta Pusat 10310
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 3925230 ext. 225/221
Fax. +62 21 3925227
Email: info@komnasham.go.id 

6. Mr. Hendarman Supandji
Attorney General
Kejaksaan Agung RI
Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 7221337, 7397602
Fax: + 62 21 7250213

7. Mr. Andi Matalatta
Minister of Justice and Human Rights
JI. H.R. Rosuna Said Kav. 6-7
Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Fax: +62 21 525 3095

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

http://www.ahrchk.nethttp://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAC-066-2009

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-066-2009
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.