Titus Kwalik is the Chair of Bamuskam (Village Consultative Body) in the Kampung Limau Asri V. By the police, he is suspected of being a member of the West Papua National Liberation Army, even though he work as a farmer in his daily life. Titus was arrested without an arrest warrant by a joint TNI / POLRI on June 10, 2018, a few hours after the arrest of Polce Tsugomol. In the early hours, precisely at 3 AM local time, troops in black and fully armed uniforms came to Titus’s house located on Jalan SP 5. Without presenting a raid and search warrant from the court, the officers entered Titus’s house without permission and broke down the door of his room. Titus’s wife, who was pregnant, was pushed and beaten with a gun when she did not tell her husband’s whereabouts. The apparatus then forcibly arrested Titus. Because Titus refused the arrest, several officers dragged him into a car and an officer struck his spine with a gun butt. Without notifying the reason for the arrest, the authorities then detained Titus at the Mimika Regional Police Station, before being taken to Mako Brimob to undergo further examination.
Based on eyewitness information, Antiterrorism Detachment 88 forces were involved in the raid and arrest at Titus’s house. This can be seen from all-black uniforms and weapons used by the authorities. The spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Jakob Rumbiak, said that there was involvement of the Koopssusgab unit (Joint Special Operations Command) during the raid. Koopssusgab is a joint special forces anti-terrorism unit that is directly reports to the president.
After going through the initial inspection, the police determined Titus as a suspect for criminal possession of weapons without permit. He was then detained at the Mako Brimob Detazemen B Timika. Titus’s notice of detention was only received by his family on 12 June 2018. During the initial inspection process, in addition to the apparatus not providing an attorney, Titus was interrogated in the condition that his left hand was tied to his seat. Only on 13 June 2018, for the first time, Titus was examined with the assistance of PAHAM Papua as his attorney. Aside from Titus, PAHAM Papua also accompanied Polce Tsugomol, who was arrested on the night of June 9, and Julianus Dekme, who was caught several hours after Titus. The three were examined by the method of examining the crown witness, where each suspect was used as a witness for other suspects. Although Titus has received legal assistance, the access of lawyers and their families were limited by the authorities.
The case file for Titus Kwalik was only transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office after a 3 month the inspection process. Delegation of these case files, both from the Police to the Attorney General’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office to the Court, was not informed to his attorney. The innitial trial of Titus Kwalik was held on 13 August 2018, with 2 adjournments of the hearings and 3 hearing times.
On 4 December 2018, the Timika City District Court sentenced Titus Kwalik to 2 years in prison. Titus Kwalik is currently serving his sentence at the Timika Lapas detention center.
