26/09/2019
All were arrested without warrants in relation to the arson in Oksibil on 26 September 2019. They were subjected to torture to force them to admit that they committed arson with prosecutors seekingtwo years’ imprisonment for each of them. The District Court in Wamena found all guilty of violating Article 187 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code on arson and they were sentenced to one year and two months’ imprisonment on 7 August 2020. They were released early on 2 September 2020 based on COVID-19 policy.
The Oksibil political prisoners were part of a total of 135 political prisoners charged with non-treason charges. A hundred of them were prosecuted; 29 were charged, charges which remain; while six people have been put on the police’s wanted list. West Papuans refer to the people below as ‘anti-racist political prisoners’. Some of them did commit the acts when expressing their political views, while many others were subjected to torture to force them to confess to acts that they did not commit. All have been released except six people in Wamena.
