West Papuan teenager shot dead by the Indonesian police on Christmas Day

January 7, 2018

On 25th December at approximately 04:00 AM (West Papua time), 19 year old West Papuan youth Nikolausi Bernolpus was shot dead by the Indonesian police in the town of Kepi in the Mappi District.

The human rights organisation, the International Coalition for Papua (ICP), reports the following: 

“Nikolausi Bernolpus and several friends were sitting near the road as the police patrol passed them. An argument between a plain cloth officer and the group occurred after the officer suspected the young men to drink alcoholic drinks and ordered them to go home. The argument  ended in a brawl, which upon Nikolausi Bernolpus allegedly hit the officer with a wooden pole. According to police chief Wartono, the officer fell on the ground, draw his gun and released two warning shots. As Nikolausi Bernolpus tried to escape, the officer released a further shot, hitting Nikolausi from behind in the neck“.

We fully condemn the killing of Nikolausi, another West Papuan youth who was shot dead in cold blood without justice in occupied West Papua. The people of West Papua are used to such “Christmas presents” from the Indonesian Security Forces and continue to endure systematic human rights abuses perpetrated against them at the hands of the Indonesian government.

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