North Sumatra police to conduct autopsies in Langkat cage case

cage

MEDAN (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): The North Sumatra Police are set to conduct forensic examinations of the remains of three people who are believed to have died after being tortured in iron-barred rooms at the house of graft suspect and inactive Langkat regent Terbit Rencana Parangin Angin, as authorities step up their investigation into the case.

The move came after the police and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) received information that fatal physical abuse had been inflicted on people who were kept in the cages.

The police have identified at least three people who are believed to have died during their time in the cages between 2015 and 2021, but added that there might be more victims.

"We suspect that there are other victims apart from the three that we have found," North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. RZ Panca Putra Simanjuntak said in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday(Feb 9) as quoted by kompas.id.

In addition, the police have also identified at least six victims who were physically abused while being held in the cages.

The cages were discovered by law enforcement authorities during a raid led by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to arrest Terbit last month.

When the authorities discovered them, the cages held 48 people. A cell was found at the regent's home, located in a 36-square-metre outbuilding that was divided by iron bars into two smaller chambers.

They were being used to hold alleged drug addicts, teenage delinquents and several people who were believed to be working on Terbit’s oil palm plantations without receiving wages.

The discovery prompted a separate investigation by the North Sumatra Police as well as Komnas HAM, which opened its own probe into Terbit over allegations of torture and forced labour following a report filed by labour advocacy group Migrant Care.

The police have questioned at least 63 witnesses in their investigation, including those who were incarcerated in the cages, their families as well as Terbit’s employees assigned to manage the cages.

Panca said the police had taken careful measures in carrying out the investigation to protect the witnesses, including by not revealing any identities of the victims to encourage other victims or their families to come forward and provide statements for the investigation.

Meanwhile, Terbit is being questioned by Komnas HAM, which has grilled him over the reported fatalities in the cages, at the KPK headquarters in Jakarta on Monday.

“We received information [from Terbit] regarding the history of the case [...] as well as asking whether there were any fatalities, which [he] confirmed,” said Komnas HAM commissioner Beka Ulung Hapsara on Monday.

He further said that Komnas HAM would seek to verify the information from Terbit with relevant parties.

Komnas HAM commissioner Choirul Anam added that the commission would also gather information from experts on modern slavery to identify whether the case could be categorised as such.

Terbit is currently in the KPK’s custody in Jakarta after the authorities arrested and named him a suspect in mid-January for allegedly demanding kickbacks from private contractors in exchange for infrastructure construction projects in the regency.