Attack on Papuan lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy

Statement On behalf of the organisers of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, Queen Mary University of London

“We are outraged by the attack on lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy yesterday, Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

The Manokwari prosecutor’s report, filed on the same day, states that at approximately 4 p.m. local time, shots were fired on the road next to Bank Mandiri (the road leading to Fasharkan Mosque), hitting Warinussy in his left leg. The gunman, who was driving a black Avanza car, escaped.

Warinussy was immediately taken to Manokwari hospital for treatment and a medical search report to be prepared. A report was filed with the Manokwari City Police. A crowd gathered at Bank Mandiri and demanded the footage from the surveillance cameras.

Warinussy is a lawyer and human rights activist. As the director of the Legal Aid, Research, Investigation and Development Institute (Lembaga Penelitian, Pengkajian dan Pengembangan Bantuan Hukum, LP3BH), he represents the Indigenous Papuans who have been displaced from their land due to settlement construction for newcomers from other parts of Indonesia or exploitation for mining or palm oil.  His work was rightfully awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2005 for “shedding light on gross human rights violations in West Papua and defending people whose rights are ignored, despite repeated intimidation and threats to his personal safety”.

Warinussy was asked to open the session on “State and Environmental Violence in West Papua” of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on 27 June 2024 because of his unblemished record. Warinussy was unequivocal in his description of the intertwining of historical injustice, institutionalised racism and impunity that have led to the current humanitarian crisis in West Papua.

While the motive and perpetrator remain unknown, it is clear that this attack on lawyer Warinussy is an assault on the democratic rule of law, which the Indonesian regime espouses but has failed to uphold in West Papua. We condemn this attack and demand that the perpetrator be brought to justice.

We stand ready to support Yan Christian Warinusi and do what we can to expose all acts of state violence against the people of West Papua.

We have informed our NGO partners who were involved in the organisation and delivery of evidence at the Tribunal, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.”

Professor David Whyte

On behalf of the organisers of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice, Queen Mary University of London

For some context our writer Steve Rushton (who wrote this account the other day ‘International tribunal demands end to Indonesia’s “slow genocide” in West Papua’) has added:

Yan Christian Warinussy, the lawyer who gave the opening statement in the 3-day tribunal was shot and hospitalised. On 18 July in West Papua, he was shot by a gunman, who fled the scene in a black car. Warinussy was taken for treatment to a nearby hospital in Manokwari, a coastal town in northern West Papua.

Warinussy opened the proceedings of the tribunal from a secret location in West Papua over zoom. In reaction to the shooting, Professor Whyte co-director, speaking on behalf of the tribunal’s organisers, expressed outrage at what happened. He said: “While the motive and perpetrator remain unknown, it is clear that this attack on lawyer Warinussy is an assault on the democratic rule of law, which the Indonesian regime espouses but has failed to uphold in West Papua. We condemn this attack and demand that the perpetrator be brought to justice.”

The three-day tribunal made it clear how Indonesian police, military and state-backed militia frequently and systematically use violence, terror and murder to silence human-rights defenders and other critics of Indonesian colonisation.

The organisers of the tribunal were joined by Amnesty International in praising the decades of work Warinussy had given as a steadfast defender of human-rights in West Papua. Amnesty joined the calls for justice and a proper investigation into the shooting.