The Free Papua Organization (OPM) denies police allegations that the separatist group was responsible for the murder of Mulia Police chief Adj. Comr. Dominggus Awes on Monday.
“We are not responsible for that. I don’t know about it; it must be crosschecked. They should not be making accusations like that,” OPM coordinator Lambertus Pekikir said on Monday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
He said that the police would have to arrest the perpetrators and question them before making such accusations.
Lambertus explained that even if the individuals who had carried out the attack claimed to be OPM members, the organization would not assume responsibility for their actions.
“There are lots of fake OPMs. Anyone can just make a morning star flag and write up documents but whether they are real (members) or not must be ascertained,” he said.
He said that he would trust the Indonesian police in handling the case.
Awes was standing in front of a plane at the Puncak Jaya airport when two men lunged at him and pinned him down before shooting him in the head.
His body was taken to the Mulia hospital before being transferred to Jayapura.