Papua Police has announced the death toll has increased to five after a violent police crackdown in which participants in the Third Papua People’s Congress in Abepura, Jayapura, were allegedly beaten and shot at by security officers.
The deceased have been identified as Daniel Kadefa and Max Sesa, who were found on Thursday afternoon. Also found was Yacob Samonsabra, Aza Yeuw and an unknown victim, who were found on Thursday evening.
A local resident by the name of Anton said all of the victims had been shot to death and had not died as a result of being hit by sharp objects.
Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono, however, denied that excessive force had been used, saying police had followed standard procedures in closing the congress.
“We shot upward and did not target participants,” Wachyono said Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Wachyono denied police responsibility for the deaths.
When questioned on allegations that police had fired at participants in the congress, Wachyono demanded patience while evidence was being gathered from the autopsies of the deceased.