Paniai Human Rights Case, Komnas HAM Asks Judges To Check More Deeply The Former Deputy Chief Of Police And Pangdam XVII/Cenderawasih

Illustration of the proceedings at the Makassar District Court. (Between)

The trial of Paniai's gross human rights violation case is still ongoing. The last agenda of the trial which was held at the Makassar District Court was the examination of witnesses.

Deputy Chairman of Komnas HAM Amiruddin assessed that there is still something that needs to be investigated from witnesses who have been examined in court.

He said former Deputy Chief of Police Komjen (Ret.) Ari Dono Sukamto during the Paniai tragedy of serving as Kabareskrim and former Pangdam XVII/Cenderawasih Major General TNI (Ret.) Fransen G Siahaan, should have been examined more deeply by the judge.

"If the judges are observant, these two witnesses should be examined more deeply," he said in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, November 10.

Amiruddin said the deeper examination was in the context of command responsibility. This is because the indictment of the alleged gross human rights violation case is a matter of command responsibility.

He said in the indictment the prosecutor stated that the defendant IS did not prevent members of the Koramil, resulting in a tragedy that killed four civilians and injured 21 others.

"Then the construction, we can't see the completeness of this incident," he said.

He said at that time, Ari Dono Sukamto was the Head of the Joint TNI Police Investigation Team formed by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs in investigating the Paniai case.

In that context, since 2014 the investigation was carried out, only 2018 Komnas HAM has finally carried out an investigation. This means, he continued, that for a period of four years there was no clarity from the Paniai case investigation.

"I don't want to guess. The facts have been formed by a joint team to investigate," he said.

According to him, the judge should have asked for the investigative report and opened it at trial. Komnas HAM itself does not yet know the contents of the report of the joint investigation team.