Jayapura, Jubi – The Manokwari Institute for Research, Assessment and Development of Legal Aid (LP3BH Manokwari) on October 17 and 18, 2022 met with survivors, families of victims, and witnesses of the alleged 2001 Bloody Wasior gross human rights violations in Wondama Bay Regency. The survivor and families of victims asked the government to resolve the case through the Human Rights Court.
“The survivors and families of victims do not wish it to be resolved through a non-judicial channel. It must go through the Human Rights Court,” said Executive Director of LP3BH Manokwari Cristian Yan Warinussy when contacted by Jubi via WhatsApp message service on Wednesday, October 19, 2022.
The meeting was held by LP3BH Manokwari following the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 17/2022 on the Establishment of a Team for the Non-Judicial Resolution of Past Gross Human Rights Violations. Warinussy said the survivors and victims’ families rejected it because many victims had been revictimized by being made suspects, arrested, detained, persecuted, brought to court, and convicted as guilty people even though they were not involved in the attack on June 13, 2001, that killed five mobile brigade members.
“In addition, the case files have been submitted by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to the Attorney General’s Office, and there has never been a termination of the investigation. The families of victims also fear that with the non-judicial resolution, they will be forced to accept a settlement outside of legal channels. They do not want it,” Warinussy said.
He emphasized that in the Wasior case, it was suspected that gross human rights violations had occurred in the form of crimes that tend to lead to genocide as stipulated in Articles 7, 8, and 9 of Law No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts.
“This is implied by the Komnas HAM’s Investigation Report on the Wasior tragedy in 2006. The investigation was done from December 17, 2003, to March 17, 2004,” he said.
Warinussy said President Joko Widodo should take legal steps to ensure that Komnas HAM and the AGO carry out the legal process of the Bloody Wasior. He said the criminals against humanity in the incident are still alive and must be tried in the Human Rights Court.
“The survivors of the Wasior case and the families of victims truly expect the State to fulfill their sense of justice,” he said. (*)
