Indonesia’s military arrests 13 elite soldiers accused of involvement in ‘cruel torture’

The video that emerged in recent days on social media shows men who appear to be soldiers kicking, beating and dunking the man in a barrel of water.

“This is a violation of the law and we will act according to the applicable laws and regulations,” army spokesman Brigadier General Kristomei Sianturi told a news conference on Monday, adding: “This is what we regret, that the Indonesian military or Indonesian army never taught, never approved any violence in asking for information.”

Sianturi said the incident occurred at a post for the border security task force in Puncak, a mountainous district of Central Papua province, on February 3.

At least five men are seen in the video beating a man, taunting him with racist slurs and slicing into his back with a machete.

Sianturi said all 13 suspects had been detained at the military police’s maximum-security detention centre in West Java for further investigation.

Papua military chief Major General Izak Pangemanan told reporters the abuse began after a shoot-out between security forces and separatist rebels suspected of burning a public health facility in Omukia village, 300 metres from a military post. Security forces arrested three men while others fled.

On the way to a police station, one of the men jumped from the car with his hands tied behind his back. His head hit a rock and he died on the way to a health facility, Pangemanan said.

Another man, seen in the video and identified as Definus Kogoya, tried to escape, Pangemanan said. Security forces recaptured him and tortured him at a military post in Gome in an effort to get information on the whereabouts of others, he said.

Kogoya recovered after medical treatment and he has been returned to local police, Pangemanan said.

02:47

‘We