Raja Ampat Police on Monday denied reports that legal advocate Johnson Panjaitan has been held hostage as a result of a dispute between two mining companies in West Papua.
Earlier on Monday, Tagor Simanjuntak, Johnson's colleague, told Liputan6.com that Johnson went to Kawe Island to represent Kawe Sejahtera Mining, which is filing a lawsuit against fellow miner Anugerah Surya Indotama.
Tagor said that Kawe Sejahtera claimed that a ruling from the State Administrative Court stipulates that Anugerah Surya should suspend all its mining activities until the legal dispute is over.
Johnson was sent to the site following a report that the company was continuing to operate in defiance of the court order. Tagor said that he received reports from Johnson's staffers that the legal advocate was being held hostage.
But the local police chief denied the report.
"I was in Jayapura, but from the report I got, Johnson Panjaitan is in Kawe Island, but the hostage issue was not true," police chief I Nyoman Suastra said.
He said he had already looked into the allegation, and had turned up no evidence of hostage-taking. “It's clear there are no hostages, I've crosschecked already,” he said.