Report slams widespread abuses by Indonesian police
Rights group calls for changes to detention rules amid claims of torture and other rights violations against suspects
Indonesian police escort drug suspects (in orange) at a press conference at the regional police headquarters in Banda Aceh on Feb. 11. (Photo: Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP)
A human rights group in Indonesia has called for changes to provisions in the criminal code dealing with detaining suspects following more than 100 reported cases of police abuses including torture against prisoners in custody.
According to an Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) report, there were 103 reported rights violation cases between 2018 and 2020. Abuses included physical and psychological torture and illegal detention, it said.
Indonesian church worker jailed for molesting altar boys
Syahril Marbun handed 15 years following first sexual abuse trial in a civil court involving Indonesian Catholic Church
Victims’ families and supporters pray the rosary while attending the trial of Syahril Marbun at Depok District Court in West Java, Indonesia. Marbun was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Jan. 6. (Photo supplied by Azas Tigor Nainggolan)
A church worker in Indonesia has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting altar boys following the first-ever sexual abuse trial in a civil court involving the Indonesian Catholic Church.
Depok District Court in West Java convicted Syahril Marbun on Jan. 6 for abusing two altar boys at St. Herkulanus Parish in Depok in Bogor Diocese, where he served as liturgical coordinator.
Widodo lays down rules for chemical castration
Punishment will be meted out in a bid to deter child sex abuse in Indonesia
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued a government regulation on chemical castration to prevent child sex abuse. (Photo courtesy of Cabinet Secretariat)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued a government regulation on when and how chemical castration should be used against sex offenders.
The Cabinet Secretariat said in a statement on Jan. 3 that the regulation, signed last month, allows the use of chemical castration as a punishment for those convicted of committing sex attacks against children.
“Sexual violence against children is an extraordinary crime,” Widodo said.