Komnas HAM Denies Investigation Of Human Cage In Langkat Slow

Choirul Anam/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has denied that the investigation into human cages at the house of the Regent of Langkat, has been running slowly.

Komnas HAM commissioner Choirul Anam said the coordination between his party and the police to investigate the existence of the cage had been going fast. But there are a number of barriers, including the fear of those who know to speak up.

"I don't think it's slow (the process, ed). If you look at the coordination and communication between the police and Komnas HAM, it's not slow," said Anam on the Indonesian Human Rights Commission's Public Relations YouTube, Thursday, March 3.

Anam then explained that the first obstacle found by Komnas HAM and the police was because of the time span of this incident from 2010 to 2022, so many people gave testimonies and many details were found.

"Then the second thing that makes it difficult, I think Komnas HAM is experiencing, friends of the police also experience the obstacle of being afraid to speak up," he said.

He said Komnas HAM could actually release their final report as soon as possible. However, there is some information that is still being sought from witnesses who were initially reluctant to speak.

"We could have finished last mid-February, we are ready to complete the final report. But gradually, some witness statements that were difficult for us to get at first then spoke, finally (we were delayed, ed)," said Anam.

"This obstacle is actually strong, so we recommend it to friends from the LPSK (Witness and Victim Protection Agency) who concentrate on this case to provide protection," he added.

As previously reported, Komnas HAM revealed that there had been several patterns of violence in the so-called rehabilitation camps, such as the forced pick-up of prospective occupants to violence if they went against or violated the rules of the cage management or published. who had been there longer. Yasdad said that violence with high intensity usually occurred in the initial period after the occupants entered or in the first month. At least, there were 26 forms of torture from the perpetrators. "These included being beaten in the ribs, head, face, jaw, lips, slapped, kicked, thrown into a fish pond, soaked, ordered to hang in cages like monkeys or hang monkeys," he said. were often whipped with a tube, eyes were taped, feet were beaten with hammers or hammers until the nails came off, forced to sleep on leaves or itchy caterpillars, forced to eat chili peppers, and other acts of violence that were not further specified.

As a result of this incident, there were six occupants of the human cage who died. In addition, one of them had also tried to commit suicide because he could not stand the psychological pressure after inhabiting the fostered place made by Terbit.