Jakarta, Indonesia — The chief of the Indonesian National Police issued a regulation earlier this year regarding human rights protections for those in police custody. One article clearly prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention as well as torture. Although this is positive action, the regulation is useless, as torture by the police continues.
On Oct. 27 and 28 a transgender sex worker who goes by the name Riko was severely tortured by police officers at the South Jakarta Resort Police. It began when a person filed a police report regarding his lost cell phones five days earlier. According to the complainant, the person who stole his phones was a transgender person who liked to hang out in the area.
On the night of Oct. 27, Riko was chatting with transgender friends when seven police officers, four in uniform, came with the complainant, who accused Riko of the theft. Riko denied the allegation and told the police officers that he was at a friend’s house when the crime was allegedly committed. But the policemen forced Riko into their car and drove to the South Jakarta Resort Police Station, where he was forced to confess. Still he insisted he was innocent.
Then he was driven to an empty street not far from the police station where around 20 police officers, most of them drunk, were waiting. It was close to midnight. Riko was asked again whether he had stolen the cell phones, and he replied he had not.
The police then threw a bottle of beer at his head and began an assault that lasted almost four hours. He was beaten and kicked; his head was banged against a pillar twice; his head and eyes were hit repeatedly with police boots; his back was kicked; he was stripped and verbally abused; his arms and back were burned with cigarettes every time he denied the theft.
Around 3:00 a.m. Riko was taken to Blok M Police Post, where he was again tortured. He was then locked in a small cell. In the morning he asked for some water, but the police refused to give him any. After more than 12 hours in solitary confinement, at around 4:30 p.m., Riko was released without explanation.
Two days later Riko wanted to file a complaint with the Jakarta Regional Police, but he was rejected for the petty reason that he did not have an ID card. Later his lawyer filed a complaint on his behalf.
Despite ratification of the U.N. Convention Against Torture 11 years ago and repeated calls from the international community to pass its own law against torture, Indonesia is still reluctant to criminalize this practice. Therefore victims have no legal avenue to pursue justice.
Riko has not been provided any redress for the injustice he suffered. It is hard to imagine that he ever will. Until today, no torture victims have obtained adequate reparation. Moreover, no police perpetrators have been brought to justice, given the absence of torture laws within the country.
Police institutions have, on many occasions, acknowledged that a suspect’s confession or information is not the top priority as evidence in criminal proceedings. Then why is it so hard for the police to stop using torture? Apparently they fail to comprehend that torture undermines the criminal justice system.
If an innocent person is tortured to confess a crime he or she did not commit, it is human nature to say anything the torturer wants to hear in order to relieve the suffering. As a result, the real criminal remains at large, ready to commit further crimes, while the innocent person may go to prison.
Torture also erodes the possibility of a fair trial. An important aspect of a fair trial is the presumption of innocence. Only the court has the authority to decide who is guilty and what punishment is deserved. But in Riko’s case, he was inhumanely punished by police officers without any chance of a trial. Instead of collecting testimony from witnesses and other supporting evidence, the police opted to torture Riko, as they believed it was the easiest way to make him confess.
Riko’s case is only one of many examples of torture frequently experienced by transgender people and sex workers. His audacity in coming forward to complain of torture is highly appreciated, as a member of a vulnerable group that is stigmatized and discriminated against. His courage should not go to waste.
Indonesia should make an example of his case, conduct a thorough investigation into his torture and hold the perpetrators responsible. This is important not only to bring Riko justice, but to send a clear signal that this kind of illegal and abusive behavior by police officers will not be tolerated.
another example of how sucks they are
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ep2lQzaI_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwLkeJErtcM&feature=related