Mr Yewen 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.
He was arrested in Sorong on 26 November 2019 along with Wilson Kofias, Simon Aifat, Silvester Nauw, Paulus Syama, Melfin Werfete, Lukas Smas, Lukas Nauw, Joshua Kingho, Fengky Nauw, and Daniel Jitmau.
At the time of his arrest, Mr Yewen 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.
They 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.
