Case History: Theo Hesegem

West Papuan human rights defender Mr Theo Hesegem has been the subject of continuous harassment and intimidation by local police for several months. The most recent acts of harassment are related to paralegal assistance he provided to a victim of arbitrary police violence.

Hesegem is currently providing assistance to Mr Roby Pekei, who was shot three times during his arrest by the Wamena police. On 23 July 2015 the human rights defender, along with his colleagues from the Coalition Team for Justice, Law and Human Rights, filed a petition challenging the legality and violent nature of the arrest. On 28 July 2015, the petition was heard before Wamena District Court, but it was later rejected. Hesegem and his colleagues are currently preparing an appeal for the National Judicial Commission to challenge this decision.

Since Hesegem's initial involvement in Pekei's case in June 2015, he and his colleagues have been repeatedly targeted by local police officers. During the pre-trial proceeding on 28 July 2015, numerous police officers were present and are reported to have indirectly threatened one of the lawyers from the Coalition Team.

On 22 July 2015, police officers gathered outside the office of human rights organisation Lotus Heart Forum Foundation, a member organisation of the Coalition Team which also supports Mr Pekei. They reportedly threatened the director of the organisation.

On 21 June 2015, Mr Hesegem had been harassed by police officers when he accompanied Mr Pekei's family to the hospital to visit him following his arrest. After expressing his intention to hold a demonstration calling for justice, he was asked to leave. Two weeks later on 4 July 2015 a local newspaper, the Cenderawasih Post, described the incident at the hospital on 21 June and quoted the Head of Jayawijaya Regional Police, Grand Comissioner Adjutant Semmy Ronny Tabaa, who called Hesegem a “provocateur”.

In a separate incident, on 28 June 2015, the Jayawijaya police chief refused Hesegem the right to provide paralegal assistance to members of the West Papua National Committee. The Commitee members had been arrested for planning a peaceful demonstration in Wamena, Jayawijaya regency.

Previously, in May 2015, the human rights defender received a threatening text message from an unknown number as well as a threatening phone call from Grand Commissioner Adjutant Semmy Ronny Tabaa in relation to his protest against the arrest and torture of a local Papuan man, Serry Logo. The text message from an unknown number stated “Don’t cry out about the victim or his torture just because you are a human rights defender. You don’t know when your turn will come to be tortured and experience the same misery.” When Hesegem submitted a complaint on behalf of Serry Logo, the police chief threatened him with torture if he continued his work on the case.