Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Initiative for the Development of People’s Advocacy (PIAR) in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia that a man named Yupiter Manek (alias Igung) died on 23 December 2005 due to the alleged torture by the Resort Police Belu, Indonesia. Yupiter had been detained by the police since December 18 on charges of sexual harassment. Our latest information details that four police officers have received only light administrative punishment and none of them have been prosecuted.
On 18 December 2005, Yupiter Manek, who was under the influence of alcohol, met Yuli, a staff member of the Belu Store and told her that he loved her and wanted to kiss her. Yuli got angry and yelled at him. Yupiter then slapped her face. Soon after he was arrested by the Resort Police Belu. On December 19, the officer of Resort Police Belu, Umbu David, informed Yupiter’s mother that her son was detained in the police station. On December 20, Yupiter’s mother wanted to see her son but officer, Katarina Ice Diaz, only gave her the arrest order and detention order letter of Yupiter.
On December 21, when Yupiter’s mother met her son, he said that he had been tortured by four police officers, including one of Yuli’s family members, who is an officer there. He further said that one officer threatened him saying, “You will remain a body when you go home.”
On December 22, Yupiter’s old brother, Dominggus Nyoman Manek, went to give cigarettes, water and candy to his brother. He noticed that Yupiter looked depressed. At 9.30pm on the same day, Yupiter asked his cousin, Anton Edu, to tell his family to visit him but the family could not do so.
On December 23, at 2.00am, a police officer went to Yupiter’s family and said that Yupiter fell in the bathroom, was in a coma, and was being treated in the hospital. When the family went to the hospital, he was still in a coma. At 12.3 pm, Yupiter died. When the family washed his body, they found injuries to his head and his hands were swollen. They also found inside his trousers a cigarette pack which had written on it: “Uncle, father, mother, minggus, eta, jum, Igung (Yupiter’s alias) was butchered in Resort Police Belu.”
At 3.30pm Yupiter’s father gave the cigarette pack to the Deputy of the Resort Police Belu, JB Toen Kosad. At 5.00pm the officer asked the family to sign three letters; the letter to give a human corpse, the letter to reject visum et repertum (investigation of a dead body) and the statement letter to guarantee not to sue. The family signed the letters due to pressure place upon them by the police.
On December 24 the chief of the Resort Police Belu, Ekotrio Budiniar approached Yupiter’s family and promised to investigate all the officers who were on duty at the time of the incident. On December 25 the family checked Yupiter’s clothes and discovered what looked like a bloodstain and the footstep of a shoe. On 6 January 2006, Yupiter’s family asked the Head of the East Nusa Tenggara Provincial Police to cancel their signature on the letter to reject visum et repertum (investigation of a dead body) and the statement letter to guarantee not to sue, because they had been forced to do so by the police. The family also requested for a fair investigation into the incident.
On February 2, the chief of the Resort Police Belu gave a light administrative punishment to four officers, namely Muhammad Ramlah, Dewi, Nurhayati and Else, who were allegedly involved in the incident. Muhammad Ramlah received only a 21 day imprisonment as a disciplinary punishment while the others received 14 day imprisonments. They also had their periodic promotion and salary increase cancelled as well as their leave rights for one year cancelled. However, all of these administrative punishments were issued based on their ‘maltreatment’ of Yupiter not on ‘torture or murder’ charges. Subsequently, none of them have been prosecuted and they still remain serving as police today.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to concerned authorities listed below to ensure that a proper and thorough investigation is conducted into the case and those responsible for Yupiter’s torture and death are prosecuted. Please also urge the authorities to take action against those officers who attempted to hush up the case and ensure that the victim’s family receives adequate compensation. It is also essential that Indonesia amends its domestic legislation regarding torture in conformity with the provisions of the UN Convention against Torture, to which it is a party.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
INDONESIA: A man allegedly tortured to death by the Belu police
Name of victim: Yupiter Manek (alias Igung)
Alleged perpetrators: Officers attached to the Resort Police Belu
Date of incident: Between 18 and 22 December 2005
Place of incident: Resort Police Belu, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
I am deeply concerned by the suspicious death of a man named Yupiter Manek who was detained at the Resort Police Belu, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. He was arrested on 18 December 2005 on alleged sexual harassment and died at 12.30pm on December 23 in hospital where he had been transferred from the police station for medical treatment.
The police insist that the victim died due to injuries obtained by falling in the bathroom. However, the police version is highly questionable because the victim's family found injuries to his head and observed that his hands were swollen. According to the victim's mother, when she met her son on December 21, the victim informed her that he had been tortured by four police officers, including one family member of Yuli (the victim of the alleged sexual harassment) who serves as an officer at the police station. The family also reported that they later found a bloodstain and the foot prints of a shoe on Yupiter's clothes. A cigarette pack, which had written on it: "Uncle, father, mother, minggus, eta, jum, Igung (Yupiter's alias) was butchered in Resort Police Belu.", was also found on the victims trousers.
However, instead of launching an investigation into the victim's suspicious death, the Resort Police Belu attempted to hush up the incident by forcing the victim's family to sign a letter to reject visum et repertum (investigation of a dead body) and a statement letter to guarantee not to sue any policemen. Eventually, the four officers, namely Muhammad Ramlah, Dewi, Nurhayati and Else, who were allegedly involved in the incident, were punished but they received only light administrative punishment of between 14 to 21 days imprisonment regarding their 'maltreatment' of Yupiter; not 'torture or murder' of the victim as it should have been. As a result, none of the alleged offenders have been prosecuted and they still remain serving as police today.
This is not an exceptional incident. I have received many reports regarding torture and extrajudicial killings committed by the police or army personnel in Indonesia. Even though the UN Convention Against Torutre (CAT) to which the Indonesia is a state party, states that each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture (Article 2) and ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law (Article 4), the Indonesia government has failed to take any genuine action to implement the CAT into its domestic legislation.
I therefore strongly urge you to order a fair and thorough investigation into this incident so that those responsible for the victim's torture and death are prosecuted and punished according to the law. I also urge you to take strong actions against those officers who attempted to hush up the case by forcing the victim's family to sign letters which prevented them from pursuing the postmortem on the victim's body and suing the policemen. I further urge you to ensure that the victim's family receives adequate compensation. The Indonesian government should amend its domestic legislation regarding torture in conformity with the provisions of the CAT so that such illegal acts by law enforcement officers are properly punished in the future.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Gen. Sutanto
Chief of National Police
Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel.: +62-21-721 8012
Fax: +62-21-720 727
2. Brig.-Gen. Eduard Aritonang
Head of the East Nusa Tenggara Provincial Police
Jl. Jenderal Soeharto
Naikoten I
East Nusa Tenggara
INDONESIA
Tel. +62-380 821643
Fax. +62-380 833132
3. Mr. Hamid Awaluddin
Minister of the Justice and Human Rights Department
Departemen Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia
Jl. Rasuna Said Kav. 6-7, Kuningan
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Fax: + 62 21 5265480
Email: pp@depkumham.go.id
4. Mr. Abdul Rahman Saleh
Attorney General
Kejaksaan Agung RI
Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1
Jakarta Selatan
INDONESIA
Tel: + 62 21 7221337, 7397602
Fax: + 62 21 7250213
Email: postmaster@kejaksaan.or.id
5. Mr. Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara
Chairperson
KOMNAS HAM [National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia]
Jl. Latuharhary No. 4B Menteng
Jakarta Pusat 10310
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 3925230
Fax: +62 21 3151042/3925227
E-mail: info@komnasham.or.id
6. Mr. Agustin Teras Narang,
Chairperson
Commission III on Justice and Human Rights
House of Representatives
Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto
Jakarta 10270
INDONESIA
Fax: +62-21-571 5532
7. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (general)
E-mail: ssyed@ohchr.org
8. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016, c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (general)
Email: lventre@ohchr.org
9. Ms Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
c/o Miguel de la Lama
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: Working Group on Arbitrary Detention)
Email: mdelalama@ohchr.org
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
