Serious Human Rights Defendant Paniai Freely Sentenced, Victim Letters to United Nations Commission on Human Rights

Jakarta –

The defendant in the human rights violation case, retired Infantry Major Isak Sattu, at ladies Central Papua, acquitted by Makassar (PN) District Court. The victims voiced their objections and wrote to the UN Human Rights Commission.

View detik com from a letter submitted by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Contrast), on Thursday (8/12/2022), the letter was addressed to the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland. The letter was signed by nine people who were the parents, the victim and the victim’s partner.

In the letter, the victim stated that she refused Isak Sattu’s acquittal. There are several reasons such as the question that the court is an ordinary criminal process. The following is a statement from the victim regarding the defendant’s acquittal:

1. Strongly rejects the Makassar Human Rights Court to be called the Paniai Serious Human Rights Court because the Makassar Court is an ordinary criminal court.

2. We, the families of the victims, the injured victims and the comrades of the families of the victims declare that the Indonesian government has not completed the case of gross human rights violations in Paniai.

3. The Indonesian government prioritizes state interests over upholding justice or expressing the truth on the ground.

4. Makassar Court presented a witness in the name of Naftali Gobai who happened to be near Koramil’s office and said that the stabbing was not true, because at the time of the incident the shooting was repeated and the bullets went out from the courtyard of the East Paniai 753 Koramil office so that at the time of the incident, no community member dared to stand there in front of the military office. And there was an incident in the Karel Gobai camp, no member of the public was stabbed but everyone was killed. He hit the butt of the gun and was only stabbed on 07 December 2014 Togokotu Ipakiya hills red soil.

5. We are the families of the victims, 4 students and 17 people were injured and the comrade said that Major Inf (retired) ISAK SATTU sentenced him to 10 or 20 years, we don’t admit it because it was a court decision Ordinary criminal and did not correspond to the facts on the field. Not a human rights court.

Then, the victim’s family filed a statement in the form of:

1. We, the families of the victims, 4 students, 17 injured and the victim’s partner have requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene immediately in the land of Papua to closely examine the human rights violations that have occurred in land of Papua.

2. We also respectfully request the High Commissioner of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, whose headquarters is in Geneva Switzerland, to urge the Government of Indonesia to review the Paniai case of serious human rights violations.

3. Indonesia and the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Indonesia may review Paniai’s serious human rights violation case.

4. The Attorney General of the Republic of Indonesia may review or open documents revealing the truth.

As is known, the Makassar District Court issued an acquittal for retired infantry major Isak Sattu. Isak is a former liaison officer of Kodim 1705/Paniai who has been accused of committing serious human rights violations in Paniai District, Central Papua.

Reported detikSulsel, Thursday (8/12/2022), the panel of judges asked for the restoration of the defendant’s rights. In their decision, the panel of judges considered that Isak has not been proven to have committed serious human rights violations, as the prosecution’s indictment read on Wednesday (21/9).

“Therefore, freeing the defendant of all prosecutorial charges,” Judge Sutisno said in his decision.

(aik/zap)