The acquittal by an Indonesian human rights court of a retired army officer accused of killing four Papuan teenagers in 2014 is a sign of impunity, a representative of the families of the victims has blasted.
The families asked for the case to be reopened after a human rights court in Makassar (east) acquitted Isak Settu on Thursday of charges of “crimes against humanity”.
A previous Indonesian commission concluded that the soldier shot the four high school students during protests in Paniai, a central area of Papua province marked by a long insurgency that often escalated into violence.
“We, the families of the victims and the witnesses, see that the country practices impunity and protects the perpetrators of the case of gross human rights violations in Paniai,” Yones Douw told AFP on Friday evening. , spokesperson for the families of the victims.
Mr Settu would face 10 years in prison for his alleged role in the incident, when Indonesian security forces opened fire on a crowd protesting the beatings of Papuan youths by the military.
The first human rights commission found that the soldiers and their superiors were responsible for the deaths of the students, aged 17 and 18, as well as the injuries of 21 other Papuans who were protesting.
These were “gross violations of human rights”, she further concluded in 2020.
Mr Settu, the only officer brought to justice, was acquitted of all charges against him at Thursday’s hearing, which was broadcast live.
He was a liaison officer during the incident and the court ruled that he did not have effective command of the local military office at the time the shooting occurred.
The human rights trial, a special court, was the first in Indonesia since 2004. None of the defendants was punished in the three previous cases.
The families of the victims also sent a letter, seen by AFP, to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Volker Türk, asking for help in pushing the Indonesian government to reopen the case. .
The Indonesian military has been accused of committing atrocities against Papuan civilians during a decades-long insurgency to win independence for the mineral-rich province.