Widespread protests reported after police shot an 18-year-old in the Christian-dominated East Nusa Tenggara province
The body of a Catholic youth shot by the Indonesian police was placed at the police station as a civilian protest in Belu district, East Nusa Tenggara province. (Photo supplied)
By Ryan Dagur
Catholic students have condemned Indonesian police brutality after a Catholic youth was killed in a shooting incident in the Christian-dominated East Nusa Tenggara province.
Police officers shot dead 18-year-old Natarius Gerson Lau in Tasain village in Raimanuk subdistrict of Belu district on Sept. 27, triggering angry protests from local residents.
Police claimed in an official statement that Lau was a fugitive who was suspected of beating up a truck driver earlier this month. He was shot when he tried to flee to avoid arrest.
The victim’s family demanded that the police should be held accountable. They took the body from the local hospital and paraded it to the police station, the regional parliament and to the Atambua Cathedral Church, calling for the community’s attention.
Paulinus Seran, a family representative said they “ask for the legal process to be transparent and provide a sense of justice.”
Juventus Petra Seran, a member of the central executive of the Indonesian Catholic Student Association, said even if the police had to shoot a suspect, it should be "to paralyze and not to kill."
He further told UCA News that the organization had agreed to oversee the case and asked their provincial and district branches to keep an eye on the legal processes being carried out by the police.
Meanwhile, Abimanyu Septiadji from the legal division of the Commission for Disappeared Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) said that “the authorities have no justification for being a judge and deciding to take the life of a suspect.”
He demanded that all police officers involved in the shooting must be thoroughly investigated, brought and processed through the general justice mechanism.
“The legal process must be transparent with all possible access to the victim's family on the handling of the case,” Septiadji added.
Yosep Krisbiyanto, head of the Belu District Police, said they had arrested Roger Roy Sonbay, the police officer suspected of shooting Lau, and he was being questioned by a team from the provincial police.
Rights groups have detailed the misconduct and brutality of the police in Indonesia in the past.
In 2020, KontraS reported 304 deaths and 1,627 injuries in 921 violent incidents. In 2021, police committed 652 brutal acts against civilians, leading to 13 deaths and 98 injuries, due largely to the use of excessive violence and arbitrary shootings, the group reported.
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