Jayapura, Jubi – Spokesperson of the XVII Cenderawasih Military Command Lt. Col. Inf Johanis Parinussa refuted the statement of Sebby Sambom, the spokesperson for the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), which claimed that the TPNPB Ndugama group had murdered an Indigenous Papuan named Michelle Kurisi Ndoga in Kimbim, Jayawijaya Regency. Ndoga was said to be working as an intelligence officer for the military.
“The TNI has never employed Indigenous Papuans as spies or informants,” Parinussa said on Wednesday. He emphasized that Michelle Kurisi Ndoga had no connection to the TNI’s intelligence operations and was simply a civilian who had been tragically killed by the TPNPB while attempting to assist refugees in Nduga.
According to Johanis, there has been a series of brutal acts by the TPNPB against civilians from 2022 to 2023. Most recently, such violence was directed at workers in a mining camp in Bintang Mountains Regency, resulting in the deaths of two residents and serious injuries to five others. He condemned the TPNPB’s actions as barbaric.
In a previous statement, the TPNPB claimed that one of their units had successfully eliminated a spy named Michelle Kurisi Ndoga on Tuesday, August 28, 2023. According to the TPNPB, the act serves as a warning to other Indigenous Papuans who might collaborate with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Police in Papua.