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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-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.

To support this appeal, please click here:

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@...

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@...

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@...

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@...

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@...)