Human Rights Issues
Kopassus has been accused by numerous NGOs and Western politicians of human rights violations. Amnesty International and Indonesian human rights groups including the official National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) have cited alleged abuses by purported members of Kopassus.
Four members of Kopassus were convicted of the strangulation killing of Theys Eluay, the former chairman of the Papuan Presidium Council. After admitting the killing after ambushing him and his driver, two received prison sentences of three and a half years and two others received just three years.
As TNI members, the Kopassus are/were legally exempt from civil law jurisdiction trial and a military inquiry found them innocent of all charges. The principal members of the alleged murder were all of Group V (Jakarta) and not based in Jayapura nor West Papua, and the supposed ring-leader Lt-Col Hatono got three and a half years jail while two other officers were not even discharged. The ruling Jakarta perspective on the murder was affirmed by army Chief Ryamizard Ryacudu who accepted the men had to face sentence "because Indonesia is a State based on law". However he said the men were heroes to kill a rebel leader. Defense lawyers who appealed the verdicts also described the killers as heroes.
Kopassus members have also been reported by eyewitness accounts to have been involved in carrying and supervising the Jakarta May 1998 riot and the mass gang-rape and murder of Chinese Indonesian women and girls.
Some international partners have severed military ties with Kopassus in response to allegations of human rights abuses. For example, Australia ceased training with Kopassus in 1999 in relation to Kopassus' role in violence in East Timor.
Read more about this topic: Special Forces Of Indonesia
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