Mr Kofias is a West Papuan independence activist. At the time of his arrest, he and ten other individuals were in the process of informing locals about plans to protest at the Sorong Mayor’s Office the following day. The planned protest was to commemorate the proclamation of independence of the West Papua New Guinea Republic.
The police arrested Wilson Kofias was arrested along with Simon Aifat, Silvester Nauw, Paulus Syama, Melfin Werfete, Lukas Smas, Lukas Nauw, Joshua Kingho, Fengky Nauw, Daniel Jitmaun and Yanpiter Yewen without any arrest warrant. They were arrested and were subsequently charged and detained for treason. All are currently in prison, waiting for their trial process to begin. were sentenced to 10 months in prison for conspiracy to commit crimes agains the state under Article 110 of the Criminal Code and has since been released.
At the time of his arrest, Mr Kofias was travelling in a pick-up truck with his ten companions. The group was carrying a hat and T-shirt bearing the Morning Star symbol, in addition to a banner. During the arrest, the police confiscated the group’s banner, in addition to the pickup-truck.
