The lenient sentencing of three soldiers who tortured two Papuan civilians will solidify the impunity of the military, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says.

The military court recently sentenced three soldiers to eight, nine and 10 months’ imprisonment for torturing two Papuan men.

The torture was leaked to the public in a video posted to YouTube in October last year.

“The verdict once again highlights the weakness of the military court as a tool to punish the perpetrators of abuse and providing a sense of justice to the victims,” commission activist Syamsul Alam Rizal said.

He said the lenient verdict would “justify torture as a tool in extracting testimonies from civilians” instead of deterring similar abuses from happening again.

“We worry that the verdict will only solidify the arbitrariness of the actions of military personnel toward civilians and the impunity of those who violate human rights in Papua,” he said.

Original article from The Jakarta Post