Yogyakarta Police Officers Allegedly Persecuted Residents To Death

JAKARTA - A member of the Yogyakarta City Police Traffic Unit (Polresta) was reported to the Integrated Police Service Center (SPKT) of the Central Java Regional Police (Polda), on suspicion of persecution that caused the death of a resident of Mijen, Semarang City named Darso (43).

The report was filed by the family of the late Darso, as conveyed by the attorney for the victim's family, Antoni Yudha Timor in Semarang, Central Java, Saturday.

"We reported one name, but the perpetrators of the persecution are suspected to be three to six police officers," said Antoni.

Antoni said the incident of mistreatment of the victim named Darso was suspected to have occurred in September 2024. He explained that the incident that killed Darso allegedly started with the accident experienced by Darso.

According to him, the victim told his wife if he had an accident while driving a car in Yogyakarta in July 2024.

He said the victim, who had good intentions, then left his ID card as collateral to pay compensation for the accident.

"In September 2024, several people suspected of being police officers came to the victim's house in Mijen," he said.

He revealed that the victim was taken without an arrest warrant by the police officer who was also not informed to the family.

Moments later, he said, the police officer returned to the victim's house to inform him that the victim was being treated in the emergency room at Permata Puri Hospital.

"After a few days of returning home, the victim finally died," he said.

He said based on the family's statement, the victim admitted that he was beaten by a number of police officers who took him away.

He explained that the police report was only carried out at this time because the perpetrators tried to resolve the incident through mediation.

He said that the perpetrators visited the victim's family three times, but it was suspected that they did not have good intentions to take responsibility.

Separately, the Head of Public Relations of the Central Java Police, Kombes Pol. Artanto confirmed the report of the incident at the Central Java Police SPKT.

"It has been received and the report is the basis for an investigation by the Directorate of General Criminal Investigation," he said.