Category Archives: News

16Aug/22

Thailand: Officials Indicted for Karen Activist’s Murder

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Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, a prominent ethnic Karen community and environmental activist, was allegedly murdered in the custody of the Kaeng Krachan National Park officials in Phetchaburi province, Thailand, in April 2014.
© 2014 Private

(Bangkok) – Thai authorities should fully and fairly prosecute all those responsible for the murder of a prominent ethnic Karen environmental activist in 2014, Human Rights Watch said today.

On August 15, 2022, the Attorney General’s Office formally notified the Justice Ministry’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) of its decision to indict four park officials accused of abducting and murdering Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen in April 2014. The charges include illegal confinement, premeditated murder, and concealing the victim’s body.

“Thai officials have long hindered justice for Billy through cover-ups and exploitation of legal loopholes,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities can right this wrong by ensuring that the attorney general’s decision to indict four officials moves promptly to an effective and fair prosecution.”

Billy was last seen on April 17, 2014, in the custody of Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, then-head of Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province, and his staff. The park officials said they released him after questioning him briefly and had no information regarding his whereabouts. On September 3, 2019, DSI officials announced that his remains had been found in Kaeng Krachan National Park. Chaiwit was among the four indicted.

Pinnapa Prueksapan, Billy’s wife, told Human Rights Watch that she hoped there would be answers to basic questions, such as who had abducted and killed her husband, and who had obstructed justice.

Thailand is obligated under international human rights treaties to which it is a party to investigate and appropriately prosecute enforced disappearance, torture, custodial deaths, and other alleged human rights violations. In addition, in September 2019, Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha ordered the Department of Special Investigation to ensure that the case was watertight so the culprits could be brought to justice, regardless of their rank or position.

However, the investigation has suffered from a cover-up, Human Rights Watch said. Despite a long list of allegations against Chaiwat for serious abuses and misconduct during his tenure as head of Kaeng Krachan National Park, he has never been held to account.

In addition, Thai law does yet not recognize enforced disappearances as a crime. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly urged Prime Minister Prayut and his government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which Thailand signed in 2012, and make enforced disappearance a criminal offense.

Chaiwat and his staff arrested Billy on April 17, 2014, for alleged illegal possession of a wild bee honeycomb and six bottles of honey.

At the time of his enforced disappearance, he was traveling to meet with ethnic Karen villagers and activists in preparation for an upcoming court hearing in the villagers’ lawsuit against Chaiwat and the National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The villagers alleged in the lawsuit that, in July 2011, park authorities had burned and destroyed the houses and property of more than 20 Karen families in the Bangkloy Bon village. Billy was also preparing to submit a petition about this case to Thailand’s monarch. When he was arrested, he was carrying case files and related documents with him. Those files have never been recovered.

In September 2014, Police Region 7 officers filed malfeasance charges under article 157 of the penal code against Chaiwat and three other park officials for unlawfully detaining him. The other suspects named in the case are Boontaen Bussarakham, Thanaseth or Pitoon Chaemthes, and Krissanapong Jitthes. The DSI found traces of human blood in a vehicle belonging to the park office, but was not able to verify if the blood belonged to Billy because the vehicle was cleaned before forensic experts could examine it.

On September 3, 2019, the DSI announced that his remains had been found in Kaeng Krachan National Park, where he was last seen in custody of the park officials. The investigation team found an oil barrel, its lid, two steel rods, a burned wooden piece, and two bones at the bottom of the reservoir on April 26, 2019.

The Central Institute of Forensic Science subsequently confirmed the genetic trace of one of the bones found inside the barrel matched Billy’s mother. The investigation team then concluded it was part of his remains. The condition of this piece of human skull, which was burned, cracked, and shrunk due to exposure to heat of 200 to 300 degrees Celsius, suggests the killers burned his body to conceal the crime.

“The indictment of Chaiwat and other park officials is an important step for justice for Billy and all those whom Thai government officials have forcibly disappeared and killed,” Pearson said. “Thai authorities should recognize that they can’t escape being held accountable for the most heinous crimes.”

16Aug/22

Indonesia: Free Imprisoned Papua Activists

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A Papuan activist with his face painted with the colors of the separatist Morning Star flag shouts slogans during a rally near the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, August 22, 2019.
© 2019 AP Photo/Dita Alangkara

(Jakarta) – Indonesian authorities should immediately drop politically motivated treason charges and release Papuans detained for the peaceful exercise of their rights in the Papua and West Papua provinces, Human Rights Watch said today.

On August 17, 2019, a racist mob comprised of security forces and members of militant groups attacked students at a West Papuan university dormitory in the East Java city of Surabaya. Three years later, Indonesian authorities continue to subject Indigenous Papuans to racial discrimination and intimidation, arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and mass forced displacement.

“Indonesian security forces for decades have routinely subjected Indigenous Papuans to wrongful arrests and violence, and yet were never brought to justice for these rights violations,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Indonesian government should stop harassing and arresting peaceful Papuan protesters, and immediately release activists prosecuted for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”

Video footage of the attack three years ago shows officers shouting racist insults at the West Papuan students while forcing their way into the dormitory and firing teargas. Police arrested 43 Indigenous Papuan students for allegedly failing to raise the Indonesian flag outside the dorm to celebrate Indonesian Independence Day. The authorities released the students later that day. But for nearly a month, the students had to sleep outside their dormitory due to the lingering toxic smell of teargas.

Widespread protests ensued in at least 30 cities across Indonesia after the video footage spread online and news of the event was reported. Some protests turned violent, and both Indonesian settlers and Indigenous Papuans were killed in such places as Wamena and Jayapura. Indonesian authorities responded to the protests in the following months by arresting at least 22 peaceful protesters on treason charges.

The human rights situation in Papua and West Papua has continued to deteriorate amid a climate of rising fighting between the Papuan pro-independence insurgents and the Indonesian security forces.

Almost two years after being arrested, Victor Yeimo, 39, a spokesperson for the West Papuan National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB), remains in police detention. Police arrested him on May 9, 2021, in Jayapura and charged him with treason for calling for a referendum on independence during the anti-racism protests that followed the Surabaya attack. After Yeimo’s arrest, the media reported that up to 130 protesters were arrested in the West Papuan capital of Manokwari.

While in prison, Yeimo was denied access to vital medical care, and as a result, by August 2021, his health had deteriorated to life-threatening levels. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis after his arrest, and has recently been in the hospital receiving treatment for that disease.

In September 2021, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, publicly expressed her concerns to the Indonesian authorities regarding the charges against Yeimo and the neglect of his medical needs.

In a June 26, 2020 letter to the Indonesian government, a group of UN special rapporteurs raised their concerns about the harassment, intimidation, and criminalization of human rights defenders in Papua. They also raised the alleged acts of intimidation against Wensislaus Fatubun, a communications adviser to the official Papuan People’s Assembly. Indonesian police arrested Fatubun on November 17, 2020, along with 84 others, ahead of a series of meetings organized by the Papuan People’s Assembly in Merauke. He was released the following day.

Successive Indonesian governments, including current President Joko Widodo’s administration, have sought to quash the Papuan independence movement by increasing Indonesian troops and police in the region. The authorities regularly violate Papuans’ rights to freedom of expression and association, including by making it a criminal offense to raise the Papuan “Morning Star” flag, which violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia is a party.

On August 15, a prosecutor sought a one-year sentence for seven Papuan students who have been detained since December 1, 2021, for raising the Morning Star flag. They are Melvin Yobe, 29; Melvin Fernando Waine, 25; Devio Tekege, 23; Yosep Ernesto Matuan, 19; Maksimus Simon Petrus You, 18; Lukas Kitok Uropmabin, 21; and Ambrosius Fransiskus Elopere, 21.

On March 1, UN experts again expressed concerns, calling for an independent investigation into reports that Indonesian security forces had abused Indigenous Papuans, and for the Indonesian authorities to allow unrestricted humanitarian access to the region.

In June, the authorities arrested 44 protesters who had been peacefully protesting the Indonesian authorities’ contentious plans to create three new provinces in Papua. Many activists viewed this as a government effort to “divide and conquer” the Indigenous Papuan identity and movement.

Rather than seeking to reduce tensions and respond to the concerns of Indigenous people in Papua, the Indonesian government has sought to further divide the region by splitting Papua province into four separate provinces. Activists raised concerns that this plan will lead to the increased militarization of Papua while enabling the Indonesian government to gain greater control over the resource-rich region.

Human Rights Watch takes no position on Papuan claims to self-determination, but supports everyone’s right, including independence supporters, to express their political views peacefully without fear of arrest or other forms of reprisal.

“On the third anniversary of the abhorrent 2019 attacks, the Indonesian government should recognize that arresting and imprisoning peaceful Papuan activists perpetuates problems and unrest,” Robertson said. “Indonesian police and military operations should be carried out lawfully and in a manner that respects and upholds the right to freedom of expression and association for Indigenous populations.”