Three low-ranking officers of the Pam Rahwan Yonif 753/Arga Vira Tama squad, based in Nabire, Papua, were handed down five months’ imprisonment on Thursday for their involvement in the torture of several Puncak Jaya residents in March.
The officers were Chief Pvt Sahminan Husain Lubis, Second Pvt Joko Sulistiono and Second Pvt Dwi Purwanto.
The verdict, read out by chief judge Lt. Col. Adil Karokaro at the Cendarawasih Military Court III/19 in Jayapura, was heavier than the three months previously demanded the military prosecutor.
According to tempointeraktif.com, The panel of judges said the defendants had breached the Indonesian Military Code of Conduct.
The trial, trumpeted by Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as evidence of Indonesia's commitment to upholding human rights ahead of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's visit last week, has been widely criticized by human rights activists as deceptive, and was labeled by one international media outlet as a “red-herring”.
The trial of the four soldiers began amid assurances that the defendants were soldiers who had appeared in a widely distributed video depicting the graphic torture of two Papuan men that was presumed to have been recorded on May 30. The torture video shows the soldiers using burning sticks to scald the victims’ genitals.
However, as the trial began it became apparent that the four defendants had nothing to do with the events that took place in the widely publicized video.
Instead, the four soldiers were involved in a separate case that took place in March, which was also captured on video, but one that was much less disturbing.
Earlier on Thursday, the officer’s superior, Second Lt. Cosmos, was sentenced to seven months in prison by the same court in relation to the same case.