SOLIDARITY ADVOCACY TEAM FOR BANGKAL VILLAGE

“Preliminary Findings of Violence and Human Rights Violations: Justice and Humanitarian Crisis in Bangkal-Seruyan”

As a response and form of solidarity to the violent incident that befell the residents of Bangkal Village, Seruyan Regency, causing fatalities on October 7 2023, 15 Civil Society Organizations who are members of the Solidarity Advocacy Team for Bangkal released a report to explain the background and chronology of the violent incident and The alleged human rights violations that occurred in Bangkal are based on facts told by residents and direct findings in the field.

This report is based on an initial investigation carried out by the Solidarity Advocacy Team for Bangkal. This investigation is carried out by conducting searches and fact finding or direct fact finding. The facts that have been received are then compared with various media reports and statements from the police and then analyzed based on legal and human rights principles.

The incident that occurred in Bangkal Village on October 7, was the culmination of violence by the authorities which has continued to befall the people of Bangkal Village since September 2023. The community demonstration itself has been going on since September 16 2023 until it was finally “forced” to stop due to casualties on October 7 2023 This demonstration is a form of conveying aspirations and demands to PT. Hamparan Masawit Bangun Persada, which has never kept its promises and implemented the agreement previously agreed upon with the people of Bangkal Village

Based on our findings, there has been excessive deployment of officers in the context of “dissolving” the Bangkal Village community’s demonstration against PT. Masawit Bangun Persada Expanse. The information we received shows that at least 440 officers from, among others, the Mobile Brigade Unit, the Samapta Directorate and the Criminal Investigation Directorate were deployed to Bangkal Village. This excessive deployment of officers led to repression against the residents of Bangkal Village. We also discovered the fact that on several occasions the Police officers often fired weapons with tear gas and bullets arbitrarily at village residents, causing the residents to be injured.

The peak of this arbitrary use of weapons was the shooting on October 7 which killed one resident and resulted in serious gunshot wounds to another resident. This incident was a form of extrajudicial killing or extrajudicial killing. Our findings also show that there are residents who are victims of arrest, detention and torture as well as forced seizures and arbitrary searches by the authorities. Apart from that, several motor vehicles belonging to residents were also damaged by the police and residents lost property in the vehicles.

In the end, these various findings showed that there was quite massive violence and allegations of human rights violations against the people of Bangkal Village. Through this report we encourage various parties such as the National Police Headquarters, Central Kalimantan Regional Police, Komnas HAM, LPSK and Kompolnas to take the necessary steps to thoroughly investigate the events that have occurred.

The rights of village residents, especially victims, must be fulfilled and the perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions through ethical and criminal mechanisms in accordance with the provisions of applicable laws and regulations. Ultimately, we hope that incidents of violence motivated by agrarian conflicts between communities and companies will no longer occur. The state and its apparatus must show siding with society, rather than legitimizing repression in the name of security.

Jakarta, October 2023

Solidarity Advocacy Team for Bangkal

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