INDONESIA: Torture victims sentenced to life imprisonment on fabricated charges while allegations of their abuse are not investigated 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about a case of arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, as well as the fabrication of charges experienced by two men charged for murder in Medan. The abuses took place in 2011 and the two persons were sentenced to life imprisonment by the court in the same year. Until today, no investigations have taken place regarding their allegations of torture and other human rights abuses.

CASE NARRATIVE:

According to information gathered by KontraS, Ang Ho and his wife were about to check out of the JW Marriot Hotel in Medan on 1 April 2011 at 8am when five or six people claiming to be police officers approached them in front of their room. The police officers questioned Ang Ho about his involvement in a murder case and tortured him to extract information on it. The police officers forcibly took Ang Ho’s necklace and ordered him to take off his clothes. They also gave a gun to Ang Ho and took a picture of him carrying it. Ang Ho was subjected to continuous beatings while being interrogated by the police.

Ang Ho was later taken to another room at the same hotel in which his cousin, Sun An, was staying. The beatings and interrogation continued in this other room with two police officers present. One officer forced Ang Ho to take off his underwear and sexually assaulted him.

The police officers then drove Ang Ho around the city in a car, before taking him to Medan Timur Sub-District police station. Inside the car, the police officers beat Ang Ho while asking questions concerning places he had no idea about. The beatings and interrogation continued even after Ang Ho reached the police station. A police officer kicked Ang Ho’s private parts, and the Head of the Police Station at that time, Tagam Sinaga, slapped him on his face so hard that Ang Ho’s false teeth fell out. The police also used hypnosis to interrogate Ang Ho.

On April 2 at around 1:30am, Ang Ho’s wife managed to speak to him for five minutes. The police officers asked her to persuade her husband to confess to the crime charged by the police. Later at 7am on the same day, the officers of Asahan District Police arrested Sun An without any arrest warrant. Both Sun An and Ang Ho were later brought to the headquarters of the Mobile Brigade of Command in Medan. In this place, Ang Ho was beaten by approximately ten police officers. He was severely beaten so that he could not move his jaw and the police also strangled him. Cigarette burns were also applied to Ang Ho’s body.

During the investigation, an officer named Rahmat Ginting typed up the investigative dossier. He assigned a lawyer to Ang Ho which Ang Ho initially disagreed with. Another police officer forced Ang Ho to sign the dossier by painfully squeezing his hand which was holding a pen. Ang Ho did not understand what was written in the dossier as he was not fluent in Bahasa Indonesia. Although Ang Ho is an Indonesian, he did not finish his elementary education and speaks mostly Hokkian (a Chinese dialect) in his daily life.

At 4 pm on the same day, the police took Ang Ho to the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters of the Provincial Police of North Sumatera (Mako Brimob Poldasu). His wife followed him to the headquarters. At around the same time, Sun An was tortured by around twenty police officers wearing civilian clothes in another room at the Headquarters. He was subject to beatings and kicking upon the order of the First Police Inspector Adjutant, Aiptu Baharuddin from the Medan City District Police Station. He was also forced to sign the investigative dossier.

On April 3 at around 12am, Sun An was moved from the Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters of North Sumatra Provincial Police (Mako Brimob Poldasu) to the Medan City District Police (Polresta Medan) station. He was further tortured there by Tagam Sinaga. He beat Sun An on his eyes and face and another officer named Ronald FC Sipayung put a chair on Sun An’s head and sat on it.

At the middle of the night on the same day, the same police officer blindfolded Ang Ho and tied his hands and foot with duct tapes. He ordered Ang Ho to take off his clothes and sleep on the floor. The police officer later showered Ang Ho’s face with cold water so that it was difficult for Ang Ho to breathe. He also trampled Ang Ho’s hand, stomach and foot. Police officers present when the torture was taking place threatened Ang Ho saying that they will torture him in this manner 65 times. Sun An was tortured in the same way and his ATM card as well as its pin number were forcibly taken by a police officer named Bahruddin. It was found later that the police officer stole fifty million rupiah (around USD 5000) from his bank account, as confirmed by the police officer’s thank you letter addressed to Sun An.

Both Ang Ho and Sun An were tortured by the officers of Medan City District Station for about two weeks. At 12am every day during this period, the police took them to a room where they were subjected to beatings, kicking and cigarette burns. The torture took place for about four hours everyday.

Ang Ho and Sun An were sentenced to life imprisonment by the local court despite reports of a lack of evidence. Their appeal to the Supreme Court was also dismissed.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Indonesia is a state party to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN CAT) since 1998. As of today however, there is no law that criminalises torture in the country. Furthermore, while the perpetrators can be charged with provisions concerning physical assault, the corresponding punishment does not reflect the gravity of abuses committed. Most cases of torture conducted by police officers are investigated by the police’s oversight mechanism, the Professionalism and Security Division (Propam), which only has the authority to impose disciplinary punishment. Similarly, military officers who have committed torture can only be tried by the Military Tribunal, making impartial and independent legal proceedings unlikely.

A report from KontraS issued in 2012 reveals a ‘tremendous surge in allegations of torture’ during the period of July 2011-June 2012. KontraS reported that it had recorded 86 allegations of torture with a total of 243 victims in this period, far more rampant than in the period of July 2010-June 2011, when only 28 allegations with 49 victims were documented.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities listed below urging for an impartial and effective investigation into the allegations of torture made by Ang Ho and Sun An. Those found responsible for such human rights abuse must be punished proportionally by an independent court applying the principles of criminal law. Please also urge the authorities to investigate the allegation of false charges. Ang Ho and Sun An should be promptly released and adequately compensated if these allegations are found to be correct.

The AHRC is writing separately to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as well as the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

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