Established soon after the Jakarta police chief publicly announced the deaths of these six FPI members on December 7, 2020, and amid the public’s plea for a credible and transparent investigation, the commission's team of investigators began probe into the case.
The team sought facts and accounts pertaining to the incident from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), witnesses, victims' relatives, and community members.
The members also sent a letter to Chief of the National Police's Criminal Investigation Directorate Coms. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo seeking to furnish further details on the autopsied bodies of the six slain FPI members.
"Komnas HAM's team of investigators sent a letter to the police's criminal investigation directorate chief for summoning the police hospital's doctors involved in the autopsy," Head of the commission's team of investigators, Choirul Anam, stated on Wednesday.
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The commission's investigators aimed to seek additional information of the procedures, process, and substances pertaining to the autopsy of the bodies of six slain guards of FPI leader Habib Rizieq Shihab, Anam noted in a statement.
Anam highlighted that the additional explanation regarding the autopsy held immense significance for the human rights commission in its endeavors to unearth the truth behind the deadly incident.
In response to the commission's request, Coms. Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo pledged to provide information required for Komnas HAM's probe into this fatal shooting case.
"I am ready (for that) if the Komnas HAM needs it," Prabowo noted in a statement.
He affirmed that the National Police remains unwavering in its commitment to solving the case in a professional, transparent, and objective manner.
"From the start, we are keen that the investigation process be conducted transparently," Prabowo remarked.
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Early this week, the human rights commission had also summoned Jakarta Police Chief, Insp. Gen. Fadil Imran, and state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga's president director, Subakti Syukur, as part of its endeavors to complete its inquiry into the case.
Following Imran and Syukur's summon, Komnas HAM voiced its intent to obtain further details surrounding the police's shooting of these six FPI members.
Komnas HAM Chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik revealed that the human rights commission and the Jakarta police chief had agreed to work on obtaining a detailed account of the fatal shooting.
"We are going to explore more detailed accounts of every aspect, including the evidence. We have agreed on this," Damanik stated.
To this end, the commission's team of investigators had checked and collected more necessary information from PT Jasa Marga. They also secured several pieces of evidence pertaining to the condition of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road on the day the tragic event took place.
Anam affirmed that his team of investigators will later conduct a more comprehensive research into several matters that need to be placed in sequence for reconstructing the incident.
Komnas HAM's team of investigators had also cross-checked information on ground to follow up and confirm the info provided by those from the state-owned toll road operator.
PT Jasa Marga has earlier clarified that several CCTV cameras installed on the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road that reportedly malfunctioned on the day the encounter occurred were not due to damages but were in fact "technical hurdles".
Meanwhile, as part of the National Police's probe into the case, the investigators had reconstructed the shooting at four locations (TKP) on the night of December 13, 2020.
During the crime-scene reconstruction, at least 58 scenarios were enacted, according to National Police spokesperson, Inspector General Prabowo Argo Yuwono.
Yuwono spoke of also being present at the crime-scene reconstruction, conducted by the Directorate of General Crimes of the National Police's Crime Investigation Department (Bareskrim), Jakarta Police Metro Jaya, and Karawang Police.
However, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) had raised doubts over the outcome of the National Police's reconstruction of the incident, citing several contradictions. For instance, it said, the police claimed FPI members had assaulted officers, but the slain FPI members were found shot dead inside a car.
Six days before the crime-scene reconstruction, Jakarta Metropolitan Police Chief, Inspector General Fadil Imran, had declared that on-duty police investigation officers had shot dead six guards of FPI leader Shihab for attacking them.
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The incident took place at 00:30 a.m. local time on Monday, December 7, 2020, on KM 50 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road, Imran informed.
At the time, the officers were probing information on a likely mobilization of masses for which Shihab was to be grilled by the Jakarta Police, he remarked.
The Jakarta Police had summoned Shihab for allegedly violating COVID-19 health protocols during his daughter's wedding that coincided with the maulid, which marks the birthday of Prophet Muhammad, thereby leading to crowding.
"When officers of the Jakarta Metro Jaya Police followed vehicles suspected of carrying MRS (Muhammad Rizieq Shihab) followers, the officers' vehicle was intercepted and then attacked with firearms and sharp weapons," Imran informed.
The Jakarta Police chief confirmed that of the 10 attackers, six were killed in the shooting, while four fled.
Imran confirmed that no casualties or injuries were reported from the police side, though their vehicle incurred damage after being hit by the vehicle carrying the FPI member, who opened fire.
However, the FPI denied claims that its members had attacked police officers on grounds that they were unarmed.
"FPI members do not have firearms. A shootout is impossible," Munarman, the general secretary of FPI, stated at a press conference.
Asserting that the fatal shooting was an extrajudicial killing, Munarman urged that an independent fact-finding team involving Komnas HAM be formed to uncover the truth behind the incident.
It is just a matter of time until the above contradictory claims of the police and FPI will be put to rest.
"The truth always finds its way out, even years and years and years later. The truth always prevails," Tyler Halimton, an American athlete, once stated.
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Editor: Sri Haryati
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