MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2022) A trial that opened this week in Indonesia against former military officer over fatal shootings in 2014 should prompt further prosecutions of serious human rights abuses in the country's easternmost province of Papua, a human rights watchdog said on Friday.
On Wednesday, an Indonesian court of human rights brought to justice a former military officer for alleged crimes against humanity during a 2014 massacre in the Papuan district of Paniai when Indonesian soldiers fired on about 800 protesters and killed four teenagers.
"The Indonesian authorities should not squander this important opportunity to finally hold someone accountable for crimes committed during the Paniai massacre," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, adding that "this should be the start of further prosecutions of serious human rights abuses in Papua, and not a 'one-off' effort to close the book on Paniai."
The trial against retired Maj. Isak Sattu began on September 21, 2022. Prosecutor Errly Prima Putera Agoes charged Sattu with four articles that presuppose penalties from 10 to 25-year imprisonment.
On December 8, 2014, Indonesian troops shot off the rioters for approximately seven minutes in the public square in the town of Enarotali in Paniai regency, killing four teenagers, and wounding at least 17-21 others, including women and children. Another protester Abia Gobay died elsewhere under unclear circumstances.
The protest was sparked by a fighting on the evening of December 7, 2014, when soldiers assaulted teenager Yulianus Yeimo after he and his friends shouted at a military vehicle to turn on its headlights as it passed the group. The reason for deployment of lethal weapons remains unclear.
