INDONESIA: A 16-year-old boy tortured to death by nine police officers

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture to death of Ramadan Suhuddin, a sixteen-year-old boy, in the Municipality Police Office, Samarinda City, East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The alleged perpetrators remain unpunished. The police are protecting their fellow officers, who tortured the boy.

CASE NARRATIVE:

On 16 October 2011, Ramadan Suhuddin and his six friends were arrested by police officers of Samarinda Municipality Police, in Jalan Otto Iskandar Dinata, Samarinda City, East Kalimantan Province. Ramadan and his friends were arrested because they were allegedly involved in a motorcycle theft. The police officers dragged them and beat them on their heads.

Ramadan and the six other suspects were taken to Samarinda Municipality Police Office; three of them were blindfolded with duct tape. Ramadan Suhuddin, and two others were not blindfolded. The nine perpetrator officers hit the victims on the stomach and mouth until they were bloodied.

One of the officers hit Ramadan on the back of his head with a folded chair; this resulted in brain injury, as stated by the autopsy result. The other officers hit Ramadan on his stomach and chest, either with bare hands or with a rattan stick. The torture resulted in Ramadan Suhuddin’s death.

The Samarinda Municipality Police Office, in its explanation, stated that the death of Ramadan Suhuddin was not because of torture conducted in the investigation room at Samarinda Municipality Police, but because the victim had overdosed with illegal drugs and because he suffered from a disease.

So far, while the investigation process related to the case has been conducted, only one police officer is indicted with a criminal charge; eight other officers have only been questioned in the internal police enquiry, known in Indonesia as the ethic mechanism.

The AHRC is informed that the verdict of Samarinda District Court and the verdict of cassation in the Supreme Court state that the cause of the victim’s death is the torture conducted by eight police officers of the Samarinda Municipality Police Office.

Since the beginning of the investigation, the police investigators have sought to weaken the case.

Some facts that remain controversial are that:

Firstly, in relation to the Police Report Number: TBL/1190/X/2011/Resta Smd, dated 18 October 2011, the police investigators initially only charged the perpetrators under Article 170 and 351 of the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP). The police investigators did not include Law No. 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection. The police did not take into consideration the fact that Ramadan Suhuddin was underage. However, after media coverage and public pressure, the District Attorney as the State Prosecutor returned the indictment document to the police; subsequently the police included Law No. 23 of 2002.

Secondly, though the torture was allegedly committed by nine police officers, the police investigators only charged one officer, namely Mr. Anwar. Meanwhile the other perpetrators only become witnesses of the alleged torture.

Thirdly, the police investigators did not take into consideration the confession of eight other suspects who witnessed the torture to death of Ramadan Suhuddin. Moreover, the investigators also ignored the confession of other suspects that they were threatened by the police officers not to attend the case reconstruction at the site of torture.

Fourthly, the police investigators conclude that the cause of death in the case of Ramadan Suhuddin’s is his having fallen off a motorcycle due to an overdose of alcohol.

These facts constitute fabrication and have resulted in unfair trial. The police are reluctant to disclose real facts of the case. Therefore, AHRC respectfully requests you to:

1. Urge the chief of national police and chief of police Area of East Kalimantan to conduct proper, accountable, and impartial investigation of the perpetrators;
2. Urge the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) to monitor the National Police while they fulfill their duties to incorporate the human rights principals and other legal obligations that apply to policing;
3. Urge the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Ombudsman of Republic of Indonesia to monitor the law process that will be conducted by the Chief of National Police;
4. Urge the House of Representatives to immediately revise the Indonesian Penal Code to ensure that torture is treated as a crime that must be criminally charged and punished.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Indonesia is a State party to the Torture Convention and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment with the promulgation Law No. 5 of 1998.

The Constitution of Republic of Indonesia [UUD 1945], Article 28 G, paragraph 2, states, “Every person shall have the right to be free from torture or inhumane and degrading treatment [….]” Beside the Constitution, Indonesia also has a national law, No. 39 of 1999, on Human Rights. Article 4 of this law clearly guarantees the right to not to be tortured.

The above-mentioned laws only guarantee prohibition of torture, but do not regulate prosecution and punishment of the act of torture. Prosecution against torture always refers to the Indonesian Penal Code. However, the Penal Code does not regulate the prosecution and punishment of torture. It only regulates criminal charges for brutal attack and violence. In this regard, therefore, the Indonesian Penal Code needs to be revised soon, because it is yet to recognize torture as a crime; whenever the state apparatus commits torture, the perpetrators mostly remain unpunished or benefit from a light sentence. Very few members of security forces have been brought to court to face trial for an act of alleged torture; they are mostly tried through the internal ethic mechanism, which is non-judicial in nature.

Ironically, the National Commission on Human Right (Komnas HAM) only tackles torture if it falls within the element of crimes against humanity, which requires systematic or widespread crime. Therefore, when Komnas HAM receives a report or complaint on torture that does not fit with the element of crimes against humanity, the Commission will not tackle it. In these cases, the case will be recommended to the institution involved, such as the police or military.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities listed below, asking them to ensure that the nine police officers of Samarinda Police Office will be prosecuted and punished, under fair trial standards.

The AHRC has written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and the Working Group on arbitrary detention.

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