Bintang Papua, 2 July 2012

Sentani: Police officers have handed over two persons accused of flying the Morning Star flag to the office of the attorney general. They had been discovered flying the separatist flag at the grave of Theys Eluay [the late Chairman of the Papuan Presidum Council who was assassinated in 2001 by Kopassus].

The police said that the two men would be charged for treason, for which the maximum sentence is life. The flag flying was carried out by members of the West Papuan Community, known as West Paco. Previously, members of West Paco had been handed over to the authorities on 1 May this year for flag flying, to commemorate the day on which West Papua was incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia. On that occasion, 13 persons were taken into custody, of whom two were charged for treason.

The police also handed over evidence of the crime, namely several Morning Star flags and a few documents.

[Abridged translation by TAPOL]