Jakarta, Jubi – The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has yet to involve an ad hoc team of investigators in the investigation of the Bloody Paniai alleged human rights violations in Papua, said Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah in Jakarta on Thursday, March 31, 2022.
“I don’t think there’s a need for ad hoc investigators to hop in as we’re still running our own investigation,” said Adriansyah, as quoted by Antara.
The AGO believes it can complete the Bloody Paniai investigations with the team of prosecutors under the Directorate of Gross Human Rights Violations and Special Crimes.
According to Adriansyah, the team is still conducting an investigation by examining a number of witnesses, including expert witnesses, to find evidence to prove in court.
The 2014 Paniai case was charged with having violated Article 42 Paragraph 1 jo. Article 9 Letter a, h jo. Article 7 letter b of Law Number 26 of 2000 on the Human Rights Court.
Adriansyah said the AGO team had not found any obstacles in finding evidence so far, thus not needing the role of an ad hoc investigator despite being suggested by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS).
“The investigating prosecutors have not found had any difficulties so far. We’re good. The results of the investigation will also be opened for the public,” he said.
He ensured that during the investigation, the AGO team engaged in communication with all parties, including victims regarding legal assistance and advocacy.
On Wednesday, the team examined two witnesses with the initials IW and HW. Previously on Tuesday, they also examined two witnesses with the initials MMJ and HH, then examined a witness with the initial H on Thursday and PW on Monday.
Head of the Legal Information Center of the AGO Ketut Sumedana said that as of Friday, the AGO team had examined 61 witnesses comprising six expert witnesses who took the victim’s post-mortem from the Paniai Hospital (forensic expert), ballistics expert in firearms testing, humanitarian law expert, human rights expert, forensic legal expert, and military law expert.
“The AGO also examined 55 other witnesses: eight from civil society, 24 from the Indonesian Military (TNI), 17 from the Police, and six from the investigation team formed by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs,” said Sumedana.
He added that the AGO team would immediately name the suspect by early April 2022.
The Paniai incident is one of 13 cases of alleged gross human rights violations investigated by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas).
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD said that nine cases of gross human rights violations that occurred before 2000 were resolved through the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court at the suggestion of the House of Representatives.
Apart from Paniai, three other cases that occurred after the formation of Law Number 26 of 2000 were still being reviewed, namely the Bloody Wasior (2001), the Bloody Wamena (2003), and the Jambo Keupok Tragedy (2003). (*)
