Police officers must meet the human rights standards in every action they take, though it is for law enforcement purposes, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti remarked.
Kontras, along with nine other human rights defenders in Indonesia, responded to the outcomes of the National Commission on Human Rights' (Komnas HAM's) probe into the recent fatal shooting of six FPI members in a press statement on Friday.
Nine other members of the civil society alliance were the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial), Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), Setara Institute, PIL-Net Indonesia, Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers), and the Institute for Democracy and Security (IDeKa).
Kontras Coordinator Maulidiyanti affirmed that in keeping with their duty to apply human rights standards, every action taken by the cops must align with the outlined laws and regulations as well as the police's internal standard operating procedures (SOPs).
The actions undertaken must also be "measurable" and "accountable", she asserted, adding that in the fatal shooting case, FPI members' alleged possession of handguns and a series of events that triggered the incident must soon be brought to light.
According to the commission's investigation results, two of the six FPI members were shot dead inside their Chevrolet Spin van after reportedly getting involved in a gunfight with the on-duty Jakarta metropolitan police officers.
Four others were gunned down inside the police's Daihatsu Xenia van after KM 50 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road in the early morning of December 7, 2020.
Meanwhile, PBHI Secretary General Julius Ibrani opined that the reported results of Komnas HAM's investigation could serve as a common reference for taking further legal actions.
To this end, Ibrani appealed to the government and police to follow up each of the recommendations that the human rights commission had issued based on its investigation results in a transparent and accountable manner.
Concrete measures undertaken to follow up Komnas HAM's recommendations do not merely pertain to law enforcement but also to the police's internal SOPs to ensure that human rights standards are applied in the police’s works, he affirmed.
Komnas HAM's team of investigators, who began their probe into the case on December 7, 2020, had publicly announced the final report of their investigation results on Friday.
The commission recommended that the recent fatal shooting case be tried transparently at a criminal court since the deaths of four of the six slain FPI members were categorized as a violation of human rights.
"The (fatal shooting) case cannot be handled internally. Instead, it must be resolved through a law enforcement mechanism at a criminal court," the commission's team of investigators’ head, Choirul Anam, stated at a press conference.
The commission revealed that the deaths of four of the six slain guards of the group's leader, Habib Rizieq Shihab, during an encounter at KM 50 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road on December 7, 2020, constituted a violation of human rights.
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Boyke LW, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
