Seven soldiers stationed in Papua have been detained by military police on suspicion of abusing civilians there.
Col. Ibnu Tri Widodo, the head of district command (Korem) 172/PWY, said the seven soldiers were taken into custody after it was reported that they had beaten, kicked and humiliated 12 residents of Kurulu village in Papua’s Jayawijaya district.
“For what they [the soldiers] did, they are being detained at the military police [office] in Wamena,” Ibnu said.
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) reported that the soldiers had stumbled across the civilians participating in a traditional tribal council on Wednesday, but that the soldiers mistook the meeting for a pro-separatist gathering.
The soldiers then allegedly beat, kicked and doused the 12 with water while also forcing them to crawl on all fours.
Following the allegations, all military troops assigned to Kurulu have been replaced.
Ibnu said on Monday that he would try to prevent similar incidents.
“We have to be better and prevent violence against the civilians.”