Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto has denied allegations that he granted permission to the organizers of the recent Third Papuan People's Congress to hold the event, which was met with a bloody police crackdown that claimed the lives of six congress participants and injured dozens of others.
“I never signed any paper or document stating my agreement wtih the congress. The only document regarding the congress I know of was the document regarding the congress organization. That document didn’t say anything about independence,” Djoko said Monday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Police reportedly shot at and beat congress participants after the congress declared Papua's independence from Indonesia and thus formed its own administration.
The government and security force's violent handling of the meeting has been met with local and international criticism, including from the National Commission for Human Rights, which on Friday announced finding that serious human rights violations had been committed.
Until now, however, the National Police has defended its handling of the congress as following its standard procedures.