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a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
Historically, politically related extrajudicial killings have occurred most frequently in areas in which separatist movements were active, such as Aceh, Papua, and formerly East Timor, and security forces continued to employ harsh measures against separatist movements. In addition security forces killed unarmed demonstrators, and there also were numerous instances of reported extrajudicial killings by security forces in cases involving alleged common criminal activity. The Government rarely holds the military or police accountable for committing extrajudicial killings or using excessive force.
In Aceh army and police personnel committed many extrajudicial killings and used excessive force or directed force against noncombatants in an attempt to quell separatist movements; at times the police and army forces were responding to rebel attacks. By year's end, 1,477 persons had been killed in Aceh, including 1,028 civilians, 134 security force members, and 315 GAM members. It was unclear to what extent police investigated such killings, and they made no progress in identifying the persons who committed these killings by year's end. The steep increase in casualties resulted directly from "Operation to Restore Security," a military crackdown begun in May. Local newspapers reported that 11 bodies were found on February 28 around Aceh and another 10 bodies were found on February 27. According to the report, at least several of the bodies were of those persons seized by security forces the night before their bodies were discovered. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that on March 29, security forces killed three human rights workers and left their bodies in the village of Simpang Tiga Alue Pakuk in Sawang subdistrict, South Aceh. One of these victims, Tengku Al-Kamal, a Muslim boarding school director in South Aceh, was a member of the team monitoring the "peace through dialog" agreement between the Government and the GAM. The other two victims were Suprim Sulaiman, Kamal's attorney from the Human Rights Coalition of Aceh, and Kamal's driver, Amirduddin. According to HRW, police questioned the three men earlier in connection with accusations of rape that five women had made against the Mobil Brigade Police, also known as Brimob (see Section 1.c.). According to HRW, on April 11, Brimob forces shot and killed student Usman bin Adam in Aceh. The Government denied any involvement by the security forces; however, human rights workers who conducted an investigation at the site claimed that security forces most likely were responsible. According to press reports, on July 1, security forces shot and killed 24 Acehnese during a military operation near the town of Takengon in Central Aceh. Soldiers claim that the soldiers had attacked a group of rebels who were planning to attack a nearby town; however, rebel spokesman said only four of the persons killed were militants and the rest were villagers. According to press reports, on July 22 security forces shot and killed 22 Acehnese during a joint military-police operation at a village in East Aceh. A GAM spokesman claimed that only one of the victims had been a GAM member. In October during a raid on Krueng Seumideun village in Peukan Baro district in Pidie, TNI forces shot and killed a high-ranking GAM negotiator, Zulfani bin Abdul Rani. There were numerous instances of excessive force by the military, police, and GAM members that went unpunished during the year. In December Lt. Colonel Supartodi said that his troops shot and killed four rebels during an ambush and that government troops also killed eight insurgents in other clashes. However, some separatists claimed that military officers forced the persons to lead them to rebel bases, after which soldiers killed them.
During the year there were numerous killings in Aceh that could not be clearly attributed to either the security forces or to the armed separatist movement, the GAM. Initial reports on August 9 indicated that unknown assailants shot and killed 31 employees of PT Bumi Flora, a palm oil plantation in Idi Rayeuk in East Aceh. According to the Government, GAM members often tried to extort protection money and intimidate the workers into striking. When the workers refused, GAM members shot and killed them. The GAM denied responsibility and called for an independent team to investigate the killings and bring the perpetrators before an international tribunal. An internal government report compiling eyewitness testimony on August 10 indicated possible military involvement in the killings. Security forces and the GAM blamed each other for the September 6 killing of the Rector of Syiah Kuala University Dayan Dawood, who unidentified assailants shot and killed while he was in his car. Dawood previously had offered to mediate between the GAM and the Government. Dawood's killing followed the killing of Aceh provincial legislator Zaini Sulaiman on September 1 and prominent politician Teungku Johan in May. Aceh's Police Chief promised to investigate the killings; however, no action had been taken by year's end. There were numerous other instances of excessive force by the military and police during the year that went unpunished, including the killing of politician Nashiruddin Daud, an NGO activist. As in most cases, there were no results from alleged government investigations into the deaths of Sukardi, Sulaiman Ahmad or Tengku Safwan Idris, who were killed during 2000 (see Section 1.b.).
In Papua security forces allegedly killed proindependence leaders during the year. Local community groups suspect that security forces killed Willem Onde, the leader of the Papua Liberation Front Army (TPNP), and his friend, Johanes Tumeng. Bodies, believed to be theirs, bearing evidence of gunshot wounds, were found floating in the Kumundu River on September 12 with their hands bound and heads shaved. In addition, on November 11, Papuan proindependence leader Theys Hiyo Eluay was found dead in his car outside of the provincial capital Jayapura after his driver reported that he had been kidnaped. Police also continued to shoot and kill persons involved in largely peaceful Papuan independence flag-raisings or demonstrations (see Sections 1.c., 2.a., and 5). Police shot and killed eight persons, and detained and beat six others after mobs rioted, blocked roads, burned cars, and damaged buildings in Papua. The mobs allegedly were reacting to reports that the security forces planned to remove the Papuan flag from the house of an indigenous community leader. Police detained 22 persons returning from a traditional ceremony in March and killed six of them in connection with the same incident. Such incidents were similar to a series of police reactions to flag-raisings over the past 3 years; however, after the Papua Special Autonomy law was signed in November, allowing the Papua flag to be displayed as a cultural symbol, security forces seemed to allow the flying of the flag.
Police also killed Papuans while attempting to search for suspects. For example, police killed one person while searching for the killers of three employees of a logging company in Wonggema village, in Papua. In June and July, police shot 13 persons while seeking the persons who killed 5 police officers and 1 local employee of a foreign-owned logging company.
East Timorese prointegration militias based in West Timor, who, according to credible reports, continued to be armed and supported by the army, committed numerous extrajudicial killings in past years. For example, in September 2000, a mob of East Timorese IDP's, led by militia members attacked UNHCR offices in Atambua, West Timor and killed three international UNHCR staff members, then mutilated and burned their bodies. Security forces that were assigned to protect the UNHCR office failed to prevent the militia forces from attacking and left the area before the militia's second attack on the building, when the three UNHCR workers were killed. Six individuals originally were sentenced in May to between 10-to-20 months on charges of mob violence in connection with the incident, after a lower court ruled that they had been provoked. On November 15, the Supreme Court handed down sentences of 5 to 7 years, the maximum for the charge of mob violence, to three of the defendants. The Court had not rendered its decision on the other three defendants by year's end. In November Jacobus Bere, a member of a group accused of the July 2000 killing of a New Zealand Peacekeeper, was retried for first- and second-degree murder, following a joint investigation of the incident by the Government and U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The trial was postponed from October until December because Bere was ill, and had not concluded by year's end. Government prosecutors also indicted three of the five other militia members involved in the incident. The other two militia members still were at large. Johannes Tino and Gabriel Hale Noni were charged with premeditated murder, a charge carrying the death penalty. Fabianus Ulu face up to 15 years in jail if convicted on the lesser charge of homicide. Killings by prointegration militias included those of West Timor resident Bornard Loddo in July 2000 and a Nepali U.N. peacekeeper in August 2000. There were no reports of progress into the investigation into these killings during the year.
According to credible reports, security forces in the Maluku island chain, especially in the centrally located island of Ambon, were responsible for some of the shooting deaths that occurred during widespread riots and communal clashes throughout the year. The National Commission on Human Rights (KOMNAS-HAM) established a fact-finding team to investigate the June 12-14 killings of 20 persons during a crossfire shooting between the military and the Laskar Jihad (the Java based Muslim militia). The fact finding team concluded that the killings were outside KOMNAS jurisdiction, because the Commission's mandate allowed it to investigate only cases involving gross violations of human rights. Despite claims to the contrary, there was no credible evidence to suggest that the security forces as an institution supported one side or the other during the violence (see Sections 2.c. and 5).
The police on several occasions throughout the country used deadly force to disperse demonstrators. For example, in January Central Kalimantan police shot and killed at least 20 persons and wounded many others by shooting indiscriminately into rioting crowds. On February 27, police shot three rioters in Sampit and two in Palangka Raya, killing one. On March 8, police in Palangka Raya fired into a crowd of rioters killing five persons and injuring several others. On April 9, police in Sampit killed 1 and seriously injured 2 civilians, when they opened fire to disperse a crowd of 300 Dayaks protesting harsh measures police imposed on local Dayaks. On July 17, a police officer shot and killed a bystander while attempting to disperse a crowd in Jakarta. Many citizens also claimed that police were slow to respond forcefully to violent civil disorder. For example, police were slow to respond to the killings of Madurese migrants in Central Kalimantan in January and February.
In Pasuruan, East Java, police opened fire on demonstrators protesting the MPR's second censure of then President Wahid on June 20, killing one protester. Fact finding teams from the MPR and KOMNAS-HAM investigated the killing. MPR officials announced that the police followed correct procedures. However, KOMNAS-HAM investigators, in an October 22 letter to the East Java police, called for further investigation of the killing. KOMNAS-HAM also conducted an investigation into police use of excessive force on December 7, 2000 in Abepura, West Papua, when police pulled 23 students from their dormitory rooms and beat them. Two students died from the beatings, and dozens of others sustained serious injuries. The KOMNAS-HAM issued a report recommending that the case be tried by the new human rights court. No investigation into police killings of demonstrators during 2000 had occurred by year's end.
No disciplinary action was taken against the immigration personnel responsible for the disappearance and presumed death of a foreign citizen in March 2000, and there were no developments in the case by year's end.
At times the police and the military killed civilians in the crossfire of their attacks on each other. A Madurese IDP was killed during a February 27 dispute between police and security forces over extortion collections from Madurese IDP's evacuating from Central Kalimantan; 10 soldiers and police were wounded. Police and military exchanged fire on September 15, killing 3 civilians and injuring 15 others in Madiun, East Java. Observers said that the gunfight occurred over "turf battles" for protection of gambling dens and drug trade. Investigators named 112 military personnel and 13 police personnel as suspects in the killings, and announced that their cases would be tried. Twenty-three members of the military and police force were discharged.
The police often employed deadly force in apprehending suspects or dealing with alleged criminals, many of whom were unarmed. For example in September, police shot and killed 23 persons suspected of illegal weapons possession in an incident in Jakarta, claiming that they resisted arrest. During the year, police shot and killed at least 25 Africans suspected of trafficking in narcotics. Africans constitute a disproportionately large percentage of those killed while being arrested, suggesting that such killings are racially motivated. In response to criticism that the methods used were unjustifiably harsh and amounted to execution without trial, police generally claimed that the suspects were fleeing, resisting arrest, or threatening the police. Police did not release complete statistics regarding the number of these cases by year's end (see Section 5).
Four military officers and four civilians were detained in February for the December 2000 killings of three humanitarian workers in Aceh. The court found the officers not guilty of murder, but convicted them of inciting mob violence and sentenced them to prison terms varying from 10 to 20 months in prison.
In July 1999, the Government appointed an independent commission (KPP Aceh) to investigate human rights violations in Aceh. In November 1999, the Commission recommended that the Government investigate five cases of alleged human rights violations. In April 2000, the trial of 24 army personnel and a civilian, who all previously were convicted for the killing of 58 civilians in Beutong Ateuh in July 1999, began; however, none of the accused was above the rank of lieutenant colonel. During the trial, soldiers testified that they had killed civilians, but argued that they were not guilty of murder because they were following their commander's orders. The commander reportedly disappeared; however, NGO's reported a subsequent sighting of him in the company of other military officials. The trial ended in May 2000 when the 24 defendants received sentences of 8 to 10 years in prison. By year's end, no one had been charged in the other four cases, which include: The May 1999 massacre at Krueng Geukey, North Aceh; the February 1999 attack on demonstrators that resulted in seven persons killed in Idi Cut, East Aceh; a series of killings and abductions at a detention facility in Pidie from 1997-98; and the August 1996 rape of Sumiati, an Acehnese women, by a soldier.
The Commission for Investigation of Violations of Human Rights in East Timor (KPP-HAM) delivered its report of human rights violations in East Timor to the Attorney General's Office in January 2000. The Attorney General said that his office initially would prosecute five major cases arising from the April 6, 1999 massacre in Liquisa; the April 17, 1999 killings at the home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalao's house; the September 5, 1999 attack on the compound of the Catholic Diocese in Dili; the September 6, 1999 massacre of priests and displaced persons at a church in Suai; and the September 21, 1999 killing of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes. The Attorney General's Office named 23 suspects in September and October 2000 (one of whom, an East Timorese militia commander, was killed by militia members in early September 2000). Those accused included several army and police generals, but did not include then-Armed Forces Commander General Wiranto, former Armed Forces intelligence chief Zacky Anwar Makarim, and other senior members of the military leadership who were named as responsible parties in the KPP-HAM report. Progress on these five cases was slow, and the number of suspects named was small in comparison to the number of persons believed responsible. Although Indonesian authorities were assisted greatly in their investigation by UNTAET, the Government did not cooperate fully in December 2000, when UNTAET requested similar support for its own investigations into the atrocities.
There were no new developments during the year in the shooting deaths of at least nine demonstrators at Jakarta's Semanggi interchange in November 1998. The trial of nine low-ranking police officers implicated in the May 1998 shooting deaths of four students at Trisakti University in Jakarta began on June 18. Prosecutors charged the officers with premeditated murder, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and assault leading to death, which carries a maximum penalty of 7 years in prison. The trial was ongoing at year's end.
In 2000 the police began conducting an investigation of the July 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), questioning the top army and police leadership at the time. A joint police/military team subsequently questioned witnesses and potential suspects, and by November 2000 had begun submitting cases to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution, although no further action was taken during the year (see Section 1.b.).
The East Java police in 2000 reopened an investigation into the 1993 killing of labor activist Marsinah, questioning again over a dozen witnesses and previous suspects, including civilians and army and police personnel. In December 2000, the East Java police chief said Australian laboratory tests confirmed that Marsinah's blood had been found in the home of the owner of the factory where Marsinah worked and in a van believed to have transported her to the place where she was found. However, by year's end, there was no further action on the police investigation.
In February 2000, the National Human Rights Commission formed a commission to investigate the September 1984 killing of an estimated 33 demonstrators by security forces at Tanjung Priok, Jakarta. The commission questioned senior army and police officials, exhumed mass graves where victims were buried, and reported the investigation results, including names of 23 persons considered to be responsible for the killings, to the Attorney General in October (see Sections 1.c. and 4). At year's end, a spokesman for the Attorney General confirmed that the investigation was completed; however, he declined to name any suspects and none were arrested.
Citizens' attacks on other citizens caused the majority of killings during the year.
Throughout the year in Aceh, armed separatist groups killed dozens of civil society leaders, academics, politicians, and other local residents, as well as civil servants, police, and soldiers. For example, on March 23, local newspapers reported that attackers, presumed to be GAM members, kidnaped and killed seven Javanese transmigrants that had been working on a plantation. The seven transmigrants were found shot with their hands tied behind their backs. In June attackers believed to be GAM members, killed scores of Javanese and ethnic groups in Central Aceh. On September 18, armed separatists abducted Muzakir, a Muslim community leader of a village in Batu Itam. Residents of Alur Naga in South Aceh found him dead on September 20 with bullet holes and burn wounds. Armed separatists shot and killed T. Sofyan, the village leader in Lan Tabeh, Aceh Besar, on November 16. Armed separatists, who had constructed roadblocks on the Medan-Aceh road, shot and killed a police captain who attempted to drive through the roadblock on December 18.
Separatist groups also killed numerous civilians and soldiers during the year. The Free Papua movement (OPM) killed five police officers and a security guard at a foreign-owned logging company in Wondiboi, Wasior District, and Papua on June 13. Police blamed the attacks on OPM; however, many local human rights groups believe a disagreement between the local community and the foreign company over compensation for logging on indigenous land may have instigated the attacks. An OPM group took two migrant settlers hostage after police shot and killed two Papuan separatists in a September 23 crossfire after an OPM raid on a military post in Bonggo, Papua. Unknown attackers killed four soldiers in a February 3 attack on a military post in Betaf, Papua.
Fighting in the Moluccan island group, which began in Ambon in January 1999, spread to most major islands in the Moluccas in 2000 and during the year. The fighting in all three provinces (North Maluku, Maluku, and Central Sulawesi) had political, economic, ethnic, and religious overtones (see Sections 2.c. and 5). While initial conflicts emerged over land tenure questions and the political and economic status of local residents versus that of migrants, in many cases the conflicts later evolved into highly charged religious clashes. One of the major factors contributing to the continuation of violence in these islands was the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice (see Sections 2.c. and 5); another factor was the failure of the authorities to prevent armed militants from traveling in large groups to the Moluccas from Java. Christian and Muslim groups increasingly used sophisticated weapons as the fighting continued, causing over 3,000 deaths and destroying many churches, mosques, and, in some cases, entire towns, mostly in 2000. The level of violence intensified in late 1999 and in the early part of 2000, after Christian gangs and militia (and to a lesser extent, Muslim gangs and militia) attacked isolated villages in Halmahera and other parts of North Maluku. During 2000 and following the December 1999 attacks by Christians, Muslim militias drove Christian populations away from many areas of North Maluku and Maluku provinces (see Section 2.d.). As IDP's fled to neighboring areas and islands, their resentment against those who had attacked them often sparked conflict in their new places of residence. In addition unverified reports of provocations and conspiracies fueled the continuous cycle of violence. The violence decreased in Ambon in late January 2000 and this year, after security forces began enforcing a curfew and disarming civilians. At the same time, mutually destructive fighting escalated in Halmahera and other parts of North Maluku. By April 2000, there were some signs of reconciliation in Ambon after the provincial government established reconstruction programs and markets in border areas between Muslim and Christian communities. However, in late April 2000, serious rioting broke out immediately following a visit by then Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri. There was a further upsurge in violence in May 2000, after boats filled with members of the Laskar Jihad, Muslim militants from Java, arrived in Ambon and other parts of the Moluccas (see Section 5). As many as 2,000 to 3,000 militants ultimately arrived via boat. Law and order continued to deteriorate steadily, and in June 2000, violent mobs stormed through Ambon city with little or no security force interference. There also were large-scale Muslim attacks against Christians in Halmahera in May and June 2000. The level of violence decreased, particularly in North Maluku, after then-President Wahid declared a state of civil emergency in both provinces in late June 2000 (see Section 2.d.); the state of emergency still was in effect at end of 2000. However, violent interreligious clashes continued to occur throughout the year, especially in Ambon.
According to HRW, on May 4, the Government arrested the head of Laskar Jihad, Jafar Uman Thalib, and charged him with murder. He was released on June 12. Violence subsequently flared in Ambon, where 18 Christians were killed (see Section 5). In response, on June 14, the army attacked a Laskar Jihad post, killing 22 Muslims.
Beginning in late May 2000, in Central Sulawesi, numerous villages experienced renewed religious riots and violence, resulting in numerous deaths and widespread destruction. A significant increase of killings occurred in November and December, apparently spurred by Laskar Jihad militants. Tens of thousands of Christians fled their homes as villages were attacked. On December 1 and 2, hundreds of Laskar Jihad attacked Christian forces in the villages of Sepe and Batugincu, south of Poso city. Three soldiers and three civilians were shot. A police officer shot and killed a rioter and wounded four on December 3, after a Muslim attacked a church in Poso city. By year's end, the army was able to quell the violence, and a tenuous peace agreement was negotiated. According to local press reports, the three leaders of the Christian Red Force who were convicted of leading rioters in mass killings and given the death penalty, are appealing their sentences to the Supreme Court.
In Kalimantan interethnic clashes resulted in hundreds of killings during February and March. Indigenous Dayak tribesmen killed approximately 600 Madurese migrant settlers and burned more than 1,000 houses and stores in Central Kalimantan (see Section 5). In response, over 105,000 Madurese evacuated back to East Java and Madura Island, where they settled in local communities. In Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the killing of a Malay boy, on June 25, allegedly by Madurese robbers, as well as local resentment of the continued presence of Madurese IDP's in local public sports facilities, led to interethnic clashes between Madurese refugees and ethnic Malay residents which resulted in 7 refugee deaths and destruction of temporary shelters for over 300 families (see Section 5). Three suspects were arrested for the robbery, no arrests in connection with the killings were made by year's end. Over 40,000 Madurese migrants remained in IDP camps located in public sports facilities in Pontianak or in outlying areas at year's end. There were reports from local NGO's, provincial officials, and local press of Dayaks killing an unknown number of Madurese attempting to return to Central Kalimantan.
A series of bombings occurred in Jakarta and other cities, including Depok, Bekasi, Yogyakarta, Banten, and Central Sulawesi from January through June targeting churches, overpasses, shopping malls, and residences. Several bombings between Christmas and New Year's primarily targeted churches. The NGO Coalition (ORNOP) reported that there were 110 bombing incidents, which claimed 26 lives and injured 201 persons during the year. A suspect in the October bombings at Atrium Mall was released on her own recognizance on October 4; however, she was required to report to the Jakarta Police twice a week. Police arrested 13 persons, including 3 Malaysians, in September following another bombing of the Atrium Mall. Police believed the 13 detainees also were responsible for some of the church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000 (see Section 5). The Christmas Eve bombings occurred in 9 cities and injured more than 100 persons, according to press accounts. On July 19, the Bandung District Court sentenced two defendants found guilty of involvement in one of the bombings that killed four persons to 9 years in prison. The court sentenced the owner of the house in which the two defendants allegedly made the bombs to 8 years in prison.
Two defendants suspected of involvement in the Jakarta Stock Exchange bombing, which killed 10 persons and injured dozens of others in September 2000, escaped from custody before they could be tried. One of the defendants, a corporal in the Army's Strategic Reserves Command, escaped while in the custody of four members of the military police. The other suspect, a civilian, escaped from prison in East Jakarta in February. The court sentenced the remaining three defendants, two military and one civilian, to 20 years in prison each (see Section 1.c.).
According to press reports, during 2000 145 persons accused of committing crimes (usually theft or responsibility for vehicular accidents) were killed by mobs of persons on the scene of the alleged crimes in the most populous urban areas of Jakarta, West Java, East Java, and North Sumatra. Countrywide statistics were not available at year's end.
There also were press reports of mobs attacking security forces and civilian guards. For example, on August 14, pedicab drivers beat to death a civilian guard and severely injured eight others attempting to evict the drivers from West Jakarta; by year's end, no one had been arrested in connection with the attack (see Section 1.c. and 6.a.). The city administration had banned pedicabs from operating in Jakarta since 1988.
During the year, there were a number of reports of killings of persons who practice traditional magic ("dukun santet") (see Section 5). For example, on September 2, approximately 40 villagers in Bentarkawung, Central Java killed Warsono, who the villagers believed caused another resident to become ill and die. On October 7, a resident in Tangerang, West Java, beat and killed a newly arrived resident who was believed to have caused the death of seven residents. No one had been charged in the incidents by year's end.
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