Man arbitrarily detained and tortured by police in Palembang, South Sumatra

The Seberang Ulu 1 Palembang Police Sector tortured 33-year-old Aidil Aditiawan. The Police accused Aidil of being a drug dealer and arrested him on 19 August 2022. There was no arrest warrant, and during the arrest, the Seberang Ulu I Police Criminal Investigation Unit committed violence. There are strong indications that the police have wrongly arrested a man who works at the UPTD DLHK office in Seberang Ulu I sub-district, Palembang town. 

Police arrested Aidil at around 4 pm on 19 August 2022, in front of the Bank Sumsel Capem Kertapati office on Jl KH Wahid Hasyim, Kelurahan 1 Ulu, Kecamatan Seberang Ulu I Kota Palembang, South Sumatra Province. At that time, the victim was riding a motorcycle to the ATM booth of the bank owned by the South Sumatra Provincial Government to withdraw his salary. Before he could get off the bike, a Seberang Ulu I Police Criminal Investigation Unit personnel suddenly kicked Aidil from behind, hitting his spine and knocking him to the asphalt road. Other officers beat the victim’s left eye, searched the victim’s body and stripped the victim naked in public. The police officers accused Aidil of possessing methamphetamine. But when they searched Aidil’s body, they found nothing. They still took Aidil to Seberang Ulu I Police Station, handcuffed and severely beat him. Once on the second floor of the Seberang Ulu I Sector Police Station, still handcuffed, the police again beat the victim, one of them striking him so that he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was already at Bari Hospital. The victim suffered bruises on his body, broken fingers, a fractured right leg bone, bruises on his buttocks, and both eyes were swollen blue. 

The police informed the family by telephone that Aidil was in the hospital. To the family, Aidil revealed that the police had tortured him. The family then asked the hospital to conduct an examination, but the hospital refused because the request for an examination had to come from the police. Meanwhile, the Police always prevented the family from requesting the examination. The police left without covering the cost of treatment. The family was finally forced to do outpatient care because they did not have enough money for the treatment costs, which reached almost 10 million rupiahs.  

The victim reported this case to the South Sumatra Police’s Profession and Security Division (Bid Propam) on 26 August 2022. However, the police still denied the existence of torture even though the victim’s condition showed otherwise. Seberang Ulu I Sector Police Chief Kompol Ahmad Firdaus on 25 August 2022, said there was indeed a Police Report (LP) against Aidil; when the police searched the evidence, they did not find it. Therefore, the police released him. He denied any indication of torture and even alleged that Aidil was a target of the operation.

Detailed Case Data
name of the location: Polsekta Seberang Ulu 1 (-3.0087865977819948, 104.76064196570793)   administrative region: Indonesia, South Sumatra Province, Palembang City, Seberang Ulu 1 District 
total number of victims: 1
period of incident: 19.08.2022
perpetrator: police
perpetrator details: Polsekta Seberang Ulu 1
Issues: arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, torture
Sources: 
Further HRM News:

NumberName, DetailsGenderAgeGroup AffiliationViolation
1Aidil Aditiawanmale33unknown arbitrary detention, torture