Artur S
directs his petition to:
President Andrzej Duda,
biuroprasowe [at] prezydent.pl
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki,
bprm@kprm.gov.pl
@MorawieckiM
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Jacek Czaputowicz
press @ msz.gov.pl
among others
On May 2, 2019, a regional court in the Jayawijaya regency in the Indonesian province of Papua sentenced Pole Jakub Skrzypski and West Papuan Simon Magal to 5 and 4 years imprisonment, respectively. The hearing was unprecedented. For the first time, a foreigner was accused of treason on the basis of art. 106 of the Indonesian Criminal Code (KUHP). According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman during his visit to Indonesia, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz asked Indonesian Foreign Minister Ms. Retno Marsudi for an honest law process. However, everything indicates that at no stage of the proceedings, neither a fair trial was provided to the Pole nor diligence was taken in the combination of evidence and accusations against the accused. In the first weeks after stopping Skrzypski, the Indonesian police officers engaged in a media campaign for the Pole assigning him in the national and global media as a "dealer of arms and ammunition", "professional military trainer" (Ahmad Mustofa Kamal, Fernando Sanches Napitupulu, Martuani Sormin), and even "the person delivering food to the parish guerrillas in the mountains, valleys and forests" (Dedi Prasetyo). All this on the basis of photos taken on the shooting range in Switzerland, travel photos and a loose conversation on the social communicator with Australian Simon Simon, nephew Yosephy Alomang, a well-known activist for environmental and economic rights in Western Papua, awarded the Goldman Environmental Award Prize.
From September 2018, in the Indonesian media, the Polish Embassy was presented in a bad light by a high-level officer, police chief in Papua, Martuani Sormina, who - as is clear from his public statements - introduced Polish diplomatic missions into confusion, thanks to which initially the Indonesian police alone she appointed a defender for Jakub Skrzypski (Chairula Fahru Siregara, whose impartiality was questionable), isolating him effectively for the next weeks from the outside world. Is it credible to act in which the authorities collecting evidence against the accused and indicting him, appoint him a lawyer? Only the determination of the legal group Mrs. Latifah Anum Siregar from the Alliance for Democracy in Papua (ALDP) and the Institute of Legal Assistance in Jakarta (LBH Jakarta), to the surprise of the Indonesian law enforcement agencies, led to the effective dismissal of Ch.F. Siregara and contact the accused Pole with a reliable legal team supported by his family members. Problems with isolation, however, accompanied J. Skrzypski at every subsequent stage of his imprisonment. For example, J. Skrzypski was able to make telephone calls with the consul by carrying out a hunger strike.
For the legal team of Latifah Anum Siregar, who was involved in the trial of Areka Wanimbo, directly related to the detention of two French journalists in 2014, V. Bourrat and T. Dandois, it was clear that the accumulated burden of proof does not allow such a heavy caliber accusations. All complaints and expert opinions submitted by Jakub Skrzypski's legal team at various stages of the trial were ignored by the judges panel of Messrs. Yajida, Naibaho and Siagiana, who did not stick to Indonesian legal standards and adapted the trial line to the prosecutor, Ms Febianka Wilma Sorbu. There are clear indications that the prosecutor's office in Papua has been working in this matter under strong pressure or even under the dictation of the direct orders of the Prosecutor General of Indonesia, Mr Muhammad Prasetyo.
In addition, during the hearing no Polish or French interpreter was provided to the Pole, which he uses fluently. The appointed English interpreter dealt with the role of the translator in an unsatisfactory manner, so that not everything that was happening in the courtroom was clearly clear to the accused Pole.
Communication problems (if not premeditated activities) that could distort the subject of the hearing prove inconsistencies in the court record. Jakub Skrzypski found there distortions concerning his response. In places where he denied the witness's testimony, there is a statement confirming his version. The case is so controversial that this issue concerns Edward Wandik, the person who partially accompanied Jakub Skrzypski during the trip, was detained along with the Pole and attributed the same burden of guilt. During the investigation, E. Wandik was suddenly released from prison and appeared in the courtroom as a police officer. There is a serious suspicion that E. Wandik did not give these testimonies entirely of his own volition. He might have fallen victim to intimidation and extortion or become a party to trading buying his freedom in exchange for accusing a foreigner, according to the line of law enforcement. This would confirm that from the beginning the Pole was assigned the role of a figurehead who was to be sentenced to a long prison sentence as part of the demonstration process.
The role of another witness of the Indonesian prosecutor's office, Lidai Salman Fakaubun, was also very puzzling. She was one of the people giving Jakub accommodation during his journey and which a few days after the Pole was arrested, which was later also read in the courtroom during the hearing, During the author's search of things belonging to her guest, he found evidence (brochures about his involvement in importing weapons from Poland - in the presumption of knowledge of the Polish government, because only he and a small group of armaments companies have the power to take part in international trade). Such sensational suggestions served as the basis for the imprisonment and conviction of a Pole.
What is the role of this demonstration process based on circumstantial evidence? It is highly probable that Jakub Skrzypski, Embassy and Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Jakarta, and finally the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, have been involved in internal and foreign staging of Indonesian law enforcement (or even government) aimed at suppressing the independence movement of Western Papua, as well as punishing environments that have violated private interests in Indonesia through their activities carried out in accordance with the International Civic and Political Rights Package (MPPOiP / ICCPR). The last thesis confirms the entanglement in the case of Simon Magal, whose clan (Amungme people) is the heir to the territory where one of the world's largest open-pit gold and copper mines operates, Freeport PT Indonesia, and a related person, Yoseph Alomang,
The first thesis, namely the deliberate criminalization of the Pole as a demonstration element, public suppression of the independence movement in Papua West confirms the fact that this is the first example of such a long sentence in West Papua on charges of treason, for a person who has not committed violence or not she participated in the act of violence. Even people demonstrating independence emblems and publicly announcing the separation of Western Papua from Indonesia (eg Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi) heard in 2012 sentences of less than four years imprisonment. Long sentences of imprisonment for Skrzypski and Magal are therefore part of a spectacle taking place outside of Indonesia's international and national law, whose task is to scare off all entities from attempts to raise the slogans related to the independence of the easternmost region of Indonesia. The problem is that the Pole did not actually raise such slogans. During his travels, he became acquainted with tourist, cultural, religious and historical places visiting both the graves of the pro-Indonesian nationalists in Papua (Silas Papare) and the objects and graves of the Propapuasian spokesmen, the National Committee of Western Papua (KNPB), with whom Jakub had contact, is an unregistered non-violent group operating in officially designated seats, and its members were not sought after by the Indonesian police. Jakub Skrzypski's journey was completely legal. He traveled regularly to Indonesia for 12 years. He is personally connected with this country, he has close ties there and, as Witold Repetowicz first reported in public, he is connected with Indonesia by family relations (child, grave of a loved one). The variety of places he visited in Indonesia and other countries is also related to collecting materials for a travel book in Southeast Asia, as well as taking pictures for a historical book.
It is worth noting that until now all foreigners suspected of illegal journalistic activity or seeking contacts with independence activists in Western Papua were either automatically expelled from Indonesia or sentenced to symbolic custodial sentences, eg for violation of immigration law, such as pp . Dandois and Bourrat (2.5 months in prison). It is hard not to notice in this situation that Jakub Skrzypski, and in a certain context also the authority of the Polish state, were embroiled in a show-breaking legal spectacle that had nothing to do with the actual application of law as such. Despite the much greater activity in Indonesia of tourists and journalists from Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and France, the local justice system never, and certainly not after a period of democratic reforms, he did not apply such crude measures to the citizens of these countries in the context of the political status of Western Papua. This is probably because Indonesian decision-making factors have so far recognized these countries as particularly sensitive diplomatically and important for Indonesia's international relations. Meanwhile, Jakub Skrzypski and Poland, as such, were considered less serious on the list of foreign priorities, so the traveler of Polish nationality was considered the right scapegoat for the trial directed to the international community and for internal use. This is mirrored by the words of the high Indonesian official on migration in Papua, Imam Setiawan, who a few days after stopping Skrzypski suggested that that the Pole is a spy or agent conducting paid intelligence activities for a foreign country. At the same time, he emphasized that he did not work for Poland because "our country has no Polish interests, those who have interests are Australia, America and Great Britain". In a word, Poland is not interested in Indonesia, especially Papua, and those countries do. Therefore, it remains to us that the Pole, as a representative of the countries of Eastern Europe, was considered as the target of lesser risk for Indonesian interests.
In view of the above facts and the remarks that despite the assurances of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poles are not assured of a fair trial, we appeal to the President of the Republic of Poland Mr. Andrzej Duda, the Prime Minister of Poland Mr. Mateusz Morawiecki, and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Jacek Czaputowicz for immediate and immediate action political, diplomatic and legal issues aimed at freeing Jakub Skrzypski and ending the ongoing gehenna of our citizen.We consider the program's direction articulated in 2019 by the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, during his speech on the Constitution Day on May 3: "I would like us to be such a state that our citizen, wherever he is in the world, can be sure that Poland will always argue for him. Such a state is a strong state. We need such a state, the creators of the Constitution of May 3 were dreaming about such a state. "
Bearing in mind our call and appeal, we draw attention to the important instruments and premises that justify your actions in this matter:
1. Please take a more intensive and adequate effort to confirm that the situation of the Pole remains your priority through high-level talks as well as visits by representatives of the Polish government in Indonesia and West Papua. In Tomasz Augustyniak's article for Tygodnik Powszechny, one of the diplomats points out the lack of physical presence in the courtroom during Skrzypski's hearings of representatives of the Polish government, which could have given the impression among Indonesian decision-makers that the Polish side is not interested in the outcome of the trial.
2. Bearing in mind all the mentioned inaccuracies and high probability of the demonstration process occurring, as well as breaking the law for political purposes in Indonesia, we appeal for their explanation of the President of the Republic of Poland Mr. Andrzej Duda, the Prime Minister of Poland Mr. Mateusz Morawiecki and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with Mr. Jacek Czaputowicz. So far, we have not recorded any public activities in this area, the Polish Ambassador to Indonesia, Beata Stoczyńska. In the light of the presented inaccuracies, the request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jacek Czaputowicz, addressed to his Indonesian counterpart, to conduct a fair trial, was not treated properly, and the assurances given to him were declarative. Please start talks and dialogue at every possible level:
3. The prison conditions in which Jakub Skrzypski resides, as well as his inmates in Wamena or Jayapura, leave much to be desired not only in terms of sanitation, but also in terms of ensuring security. Do you have absolute certainty that the health and life of a Polish citizen is not threatened and all fundamental human rights issues will be respected?Torture, also using electric current, is a recurrent practice in Indonesian prisons, confirmed by organizations affiliated to the UN, such as Franciscans International. At the end of April 2019, Indonesian officers tortured a group of prisoners accused of attempting to escape from the Abepura prison in Papua. Two of them, Maikel Ilinmaton and Selyus Logo, died as a result of injuries. Transfer of the accused to a prison in western Indonesia, which - as T. Augustyniak informs - want to sue Polish diplomats, does not guarantee security. Recently, a recording leaked, published among others in the Australian media, illustrating the abuse and beating prisoners by Indonesian officers from the prison on the island of Nusakambangan in the Java region.
4. If you believe that conventional tools of bilateral diplomatic and intergovernmental influence limit activities on this platform, we draw your attention and ask you to implement all other possible impacts. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that already in September 2018 a representative of Vanuatu at the UN Mr. Noah Kouback, during a meeting of the working group on arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances at the UN, questioned the justification and reasons for detaining Jakub Skrzypski and Simon Magal. Pacific countries, such as the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Nauru, the Republic of Marshall Islands and the Kingdom of Tonga, with an immensely less powerful international influence than Poland, made remarks about law and human rights in Indonesia and West Papua, also during the annual sessions of the UN General Assembly.
5. The mutual announcements of Polish and Indonesian diplomacy confirm the growing importance of bilateral economic, trade and investment relations as well as scientific and cultural exchange. These statements seem to lie to the suggestions of the Indonesian head of migration in Jayapura that "Poland is not interested in Indonesia." Last year Polish diplomacy got involved in the ceremonial welcome of the "Dar Młodzieży" ship in Jakarta as part of a great cruise celebrating the 100th anniversary of regaining independence. On the other hand, the Indonesian side confirms the importance of Poland as an important point for its economic interests in Europe, which manifested itself in the opening of a direct air connection on the Warsaw-Jakarta line.
An important element of this interest is the process of deploying Indonesian employees in the employee sector in Poland. During last year's October visit to Indonesia, Deputy Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Waterway Transport, Mrs. Anna Moskwa, and Polish Ambassador, Mrs Beata Stoczyńska, met with Mr. Nusron Wahid and Mr. Tatang Buda Utama Razak from BNP2TKI (Office for Protection and Employment of Indonesian Workers Abroad) ). According to Indonesian publications, an agreement was signed on the employment opportunities of Indonesian employees in Poland (shipbuilding and fisheries). In turn in December 2018, the delegation of BNP2TKI headed by TBU Razak visited Poland. During the visit, she identified 2545 jobs in the manufacturing sector, 195 in construction,
If all these aspects are not coincidental, and thus the significance of Indonesian-Polish relations increases, the Polish and Indonesian government should be interested in explaining and removing all doubts as to the use of equal measures in the mutual approach. The use of a Polish citizen as a figurehead in the circumstantial and political process, not only shows that the Indonesian partners treat the Polish side as less sensitive than other countries of the western cultural circle, but also a second category partner on which concessions can be enforced. Putting Jakub Skrzypski in court as the first foreigner accused of "betrayal" in Indonesia, and then sentencing him to a long-term sentence, for the next years will always be able to provoke retaliation not only in mutual relations, but also due to the security of Indonesian citizens living and studying in Poland. The intensification of animosities against the background of migration crises across Europe has resulted in increased violence against foreigners in recent years. If such animosities intensify, in the context of global phenomena - in the face of remaining in court, if not judicial "justice as such", the case of Skrzypski held in jail in Indonesia - may result in unjustified and unlawful acts of aggression against Indonesian citizens in Poland by those members of the Polish society who, emotionally reacting, will lose objective premises of personal responsibility and will look for those guilty under "collective responsibility". The intensification of animosities against the background of migration crises across Europe has resulted in increased violence against foreigners in recent years. If such animosities intensify, in the context of global phenomena - in the face of remaining in court, if not judicial "justice as such", the case of Skrzypski held in jail in Indonesia - may result in unjustified and unlawful acts of aggression against Indonesian citizens in Poland by those members of the Polish society who, emotionally reacting, will lose objective premises of personal responsibility and will look for those guilty under "collective responsibility". The intensification of animosities against the background of migration crises across Europe has resulted in increased violence against foreigners in recent years. If such animosities intensify, in the context of global phenomena - in the face of remaining in court, if not judicial "justice as such", the case of Skrzypski held in jail in Indonesia - may result in unjustified and unlawful acts of aggression against Indonesian citizens in Poland by those members of the Polish society who, emotionally reacting, will lose objective premises of personal responsibility and will look for those guilty under "collective responsibility".
6. At the same time, we draw your attention to the fact that the detention and accusation of Jakub Skrzypski in Indonesia is not the first case of Poland's joining illegal trade in ammunition in Indonesia to meet political and propaganda needs. In August 2015, after a fully legal demonstration took place at the Indonesian Embassy in Poland, attended by Polish citizens and a group of Western Papuan, directly related to the murdered in 1984 by Indonesian special forces, West-Pomeranian anthropologist and musician Arnold Apem, Indonesian diplomats and politicians organized a controversial press conference in Jakarta, during which this legal protest was combined with the fact of revealing at the Jakarta airport attempts to smuggle nearly 3,000 pieces of ammunition. The conference was convened as a result of direct communication between the Ambassador of Indonesia in Poland, Mr. Peter F. Gontha, and also Mr. Tant Yahyą, who conveyed these sensational messages to the Indonesian press. Tant Yahya then took the post of Ambassador of Indonesia to New Zealand. In conclusion, this case shows that the accusation of arms and ammunition trade is a repetitive strategy of Indonesian diplomats and political activists, carried out for public use.
Bearing in mind all the comments made in the content of this petition illustrating violations of basic investigative and legal procedures, serious doubts about transparency of court proceedings resulting in long-term prison sentence in Indonesia for Jakub Skrzypski, and the accompanying political background that may also constitute a form of political revenge, we ask for immediate action at the level of bilateral relations with Indonesia, as well as in the international field in the presented or wider scope, actions aimed at immediate release of the Pole or subjecting his case to international arbitration. Your efforts and actions in this matter will be monitored on an ongoing basis.