TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) stated that the police constantly ranked first as the institution with the highest number of torture cases. The organization documented violent incidents from year to year, and the National Police (Polri) once again became the number one perpetrator of torture this year.
Deputy Coordinator for External Affairs of KontraS, Andrie Yunus, described the findings as distressing. "The National Police always ranks first as the institution that carries out torture," he said during the launch of the policy paper titled 'Bhayangkara Day 2025: Soaring Violence Amidst Imbalanced Law Enforcement' at the KontraS office in Central Jakarta, on Monday, June 30, 2025.
Andrie stated that the torture carried out by the National Police constitutes a serious violation of various legal instruments, both the principles regulated in international covenants and the applicable legislation in Indonesia.
For example, he mentioned that the National Police itself has a Chief of Police Regulation or Perkap Number 8 of 2009 concerning the Implementation of Human Rights Principles and Standards. The regulation stipulates that every member of the National Police is prohibited from torturing individuals suspected of being involved in crimes.
"But then the data we obtained shows a high number of torture cases. (The National Police) always ranks first and the number of victims is also increasing, both fatalities and those with minor and severe injuries," said Andrie.
At least 38 cases of torture incidents in the past year were carried out by members of the National Police, according to KontraS's monitoring throughout July 2024-June 2025 as stated in their latest policy paper.
Last week, KontraS released a separate report specifically on torture actions, based on observations from June 2024-May 2025. The National Police was recorded as the institution with the highest number of individuals carrying out acts of torture, followed by the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), then prison guards or officers of Detention Houses (Rutan) and Correctional Facilities (Lapas).
Based on the report, a total of 36 torture acts were carried out by members of the National Police. The TNI ranked second with 23 torture incidents, while prison guards or officers of Detention Houses and Correctional Facilities recorded seven torture incidents.
From the latest figure of 38 torture cases by the National Police in the past year, there were at least 86 victims. Ten of them died, while 76 others suffered minor to severe injuries.
Andrie stated that there are at least three motives for the police to carry out torture. The first motive is to obtain information or confessions, the second motive is as a form of punishment, and the third motive is as a tool for intimidation. "We found these three patterns in monitoring torture cases by the National Police," he said.
KontraS's latest policy paper and its specific report on torture were released ahead of the Indonesian National Police's 79th Anniversary on July 1, 2025.
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