2024-07-05 15:47:25
Afrinaldi and Anggun take a photo with a portrait of the late Afif Maulana, their eldest son at the LBH Padang office. (Photo: LBH Padang Documentation)
jpnn.comJAKARTA – The death of Afif Maulana (AM), 13 years old, in Padang City, West Sumatra, is suspected to have been the result of torture by police officers.
Apart from Afif, eleven other children suffered physical and psychological injuries.
“The case of children in Padang City which resulted in one person dying, namely AM and eleven other children suffering physical and psychological injuries which were allegedly carried out by certain police officers was torture,” said Member of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) Dian Sasmita when contacted in Jakarta, Thursday.
Dian said that KPAI received a complaint about the case on June 24, 2024 from the Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and had carried out a series of efforts to gather information.
His party found that the place where AM’s body was found was a shallow river and the height of the bridge was estimated to be five meters.
“Preliminary developments, the police still consider the case of AM’s death to be insufficiently proven. Even though several facts have been presented to the public, including photos of wounds on AM’s body and the other children,” he said.
In addition, a number of children were taken to the Kuranji Police Station yard, Padang, and tortured.
“The violence was carried out in the yard of the Kuranji Police and the West Sumatra Police by a number of police officers on duty that night. The children said that they experienced being burned with cigarettes, kicked, punched, electrocuted, and other cruel treatment. In fact, they only wore underwear during the torture and were not given drinking water at all,” said Dian.
The deaths of Afif Maulana and eleven other children who suffered physical injuries in Padang City are suspected to have been caused by torture by police officers.