Political Activist from Papua, Filep Karma Dies after Drowning on the Seashore
pada tanggal
02 November 2022
JAYAPURA, LELEMUKU.COM - Political activist from Papua Indonesia, Filip Jacob Semuel Karma died at the age of 63 years.
His body was found by the community on the coast of Jayapura City on Tuesday morning, November 1, 2022
Jayapura City police officer Victor Mackbon said that after receiving reports from residents at the Deplat, the police responded to the location where the bodies were found.
"A Papuan who was planning to dive to catch fish found the victim lying on the beach with a swollen body," he explained
The police then conducted an investigation of the scene of the evacuation of the bodies from the Base-G beach.
“The victim was wearing a wetsuit and was found alone. This is still under investigation," he said.
Victor said, because the family refused to do an autopsy, the victim was only given a post-mortem at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Kotaraja and there were no signs of violence on the victim's body.
"The family refused the autopsy and we will make a statement of refusal. We do this in order to anticipate unwanted things happening in the future," he said.
From the statement from the family who lives in Dock V, North Jayapura District, the last communication with the victim was on October 27, 2022.
"The family said the victim left the house with plans to dive to catch fish at Base G beach," he explained.
The police chief continued that his side together with the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) would investigate further in this case.
"We don't want new problems to arise, leave this case to the police because we are accompanied directly by the Papuan Human Rights Commission to participate in the post-mortem and investigation process so that there are no things that are outside the facts. I hope all parties can support all of this , " he said.
Filep Karma, a man from Biak Island who was born on August 15, 1959, is a political and human rights activist in Papua.
On December 1, 2004, he was arrested for being involved in raising the Morning Star flag during a ceremony in Jayapura.
Because of his actions, Karma was accused of treason against the state and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have protested his detention and named Filep Karma a political prisoner.
He was subsequently released on 19 November 2015 from Abepura Prison after serving 11 years of his 15 year prison sentence.
The release of Filep Karma, in 2015, was part of President Joko Widodo's policy of granting clemency to a number of political prisoners in Papua in order to resolve the conflict in Papua. (Albert Batlayeri)