Members of the Jayapura municipality police have arrested the head of the politics desk of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Bazoka Logo (see intro image). The police pressed charges against Logo for alleged violation of article 266 of the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP) on document forgery. Bazoka Logo’s lawyers from the Papuan Legal Aid Institute (LBH Papua), the Association of Human Rights Lawyers for Papua (PAHAM Papua) and Posbakum Madim stated that the arrest was not conducted in accordance with law enforcement procedures. They regard the arrest as an attempt to criminalize the ULMWP activist, who had organised a peaceful demonstration in commemoration of the ‘New York Agreement’ on 15 August 2019.
Police officers arrested a group of protesters in Jayapura and subsequently called Bazoka Logo by phone, asking him to come to the police station and vouch for the as a member of the organizing committee. The police released the protesters after Logo came to the police station. He was then taken into custody. Bazoka Logo’s lawyers argue that the arrest was unlawful because the police failed to summon Bazoka Logo and provide an arrest warrant to him. Moreover, the police investigator interrogated the activist without legal counsel through a lawyer as it is stipulated in the Indonesian Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP). The lawyers have announced they will challenge the lawfulness of the arrest in a pre-trial. Other ULMWP members called on the international community and pacific states to condemn the attempted criminalization.
