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Two Children Who Died in Police Custody Returned to Parents ‘Bearing Signs of Torture’
Ulma Haryanto | January 07, 2012

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meautiayu
11:16am Jan 9, 2012

I guess everything that I am trying to say has been pointed out wisely by my fellow commenters here... So, I have nothing left to say but my deepest condolence to the justice in our beloved county which has been dead since god knows when....

didikarjadi - well, I am afraid we will learn it the hard way :(

didikarjadi
9:18am Jan 9, 2012

It shocks me that horrifying stories such as this soon slip into anonymity very quickly and get only few comments, while stories of insignificance bring out all the West haters, do-gooders and Islam promoters.

This story is just appalling. Our police force, which has never been anything to boast about, has now declined into a sadistic collection of thugs and gangsters, led by very evil people.

When are the government, and especially the President, going to stop this decline of Indonesia into a police state of brutality, torture and human rights abuse?

When are the Press going to start taking a more responsible role in pursuing the answers from the leadership as to why they are allowing the police to literally get away with murder, on what is now a regular basis?

Will it take a blood-bath to shake this nation back into sanity?

padt
8:53pm Jan 8, 2012

The word 'police' comes from the Greek word 'polis' which means 'city'. Therefore a policeman is the representative and guardian of the city, He is meant to be the representative of all that is best about a city - and the person who makes sure that things in the city move smoothly and sweetly. A policeman, according to the origins of the word, is meant to epitomize 'polity' - or 'politeness'.

Of course the origin of this word is based on Greek/Roman civilization and ethics.

These ideas are foreign to much of the Indonesian mentality because Indonesia is a feudal society based on spurious concepts of respect and spurious concepts of social harmony which degenerate - as possibly is the situation in this case - into brutality and total lack of human decency.

The police think they are 'free' to do as they like. Again, they misunderstand the meaning of the word 'freedom'. It means responsibility.

When you have an education system largely organised around ignorance brutality occurs.


-Lauren-
5:22pm Jan 8, 2012

Omg. The police in Indonesia are feral. Either they did it, or they let some other innmates do it. Whatever the case they are responsible. Let's hope this 'legal' document signed by the parents is void. This is truly a violent police state with a grossly stratified social system. Petty crimes are given the harshest sentences and most brutal attention, but big time criminals in the hierarchy get away scot free. So sad for these families.

Valkyrie
5:17pm Jan 8, 2012

Sometimes I am compelled to believe that the "boss" has his brains on the the other end of his anatomy.

What has happened to your conscience, sir, and is life that cheap in this country?

Indonesia's National Police are investigating the shocking deaths of two young brothers inside a police prison in West Sumatra last week.

“Nine officers who were on duty [at the time of the deaths] are being questioned by an internal team,” police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said on Friday.

According to Boy, Sijunjung Police have claimed that the two boys, 14-year-old Faisal and 17-year-old Busri, hanged themselves in their prison cell.

“A forensic examination has been conducted but I have not received the report yet,” he said.

Faisal was arrested on Dec. 21 for stealing from a charity box at a mosque, while Busri was arrested five days later for stealing a motorcycle.

On the night of Dec. 28, Faisal and Busri’s parents were notified by the village administration office that their sons had died in police custody.

“When they arrived at the police precinct, the officers told them that the boys hanged themselves using their clothing as ropes and asked the parents to sign a statement saying that they would not sue the police for anything that happened,” said Roni Saputra from Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who is representing the family.

Roni said that since both parents were illiterate, they obligingly signed the letter.

“Police didn’t show the bodies right away but instead put [the corpses] in an ambulance and dropped them off at their parents’ house,” he said.

But instead of finding the usual marks of someone who died from hanging, the parents saw that their sons’ bodies were full of injuries.

“First, Busri’s arm was swollen, as if his bones were broken, there was a big gash on his left leg, as if someone sliced it open. [The boys’] thighs have marks similar to electrocution, their toes were smashed and their skulls were soft,” Roni said, adding that fresh blood was still flowing from Faisal’s nose.

“The only mark that is consistent with the police’s claim was that the skin around their neck was chafed,” Roni continued.

The frustrated parents went back to the police precinct with a number of other villagers and demanded an autopsy.

“At first the police refused, but then more and more people from the village came and held a demonstration until the police chief agreed,” he added.

As of Friday, the family is still waiting for the result.

“We demand transparency from the police, including the Sijunjung police about the real cause of death,” Roni said, adding that they also have coordinated with West Sumatra Commission of Human Rights (Komda HAM) to investigate the case.

Maria Ulfa Anshor, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) said the case showed the police cared little for the welfare of youngsters.

“This case shows that child protection is not being done by the police,” Maria said.