Human rights defenders documented a further extra-judicial execution in the Ilu District of Puncak Jaya Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province. Recently, such cases have increased significantly due to armed conflict escalations in the central highlands.
On 24 October 2024, members of the 753 Military command post in Ilu reportedly shot dead Mr Tuju Wonda, 25, in the village of Alukme at 8:15 pm, as he was walking from Aberiambut Village, Yamoneri District, to Ilu. It is believed that military personnel executed Mr Wonda because of his dreadlocks, which security forces in West Papua falsely interpreted as an indicator of affiliation with the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB). Relatives denied that Mr Tuju Wonda was associated with the armed resistance, emphasising that he had been a farmer.
According to the information received, Mr Wonda died as a result of a head injury as a result of a headshot . Following the execution, the perpetrators threw the body off a cliff. Relatives discovered it on 25 October 2024 in the early morning. The body was cremated without forensic post-mortem examination (see photos below, source: independent HRDs).
The incident marks only one out of many cases where military members tortured or executed indigenous Papuans because they suspected them of being TPNPB affiliates, despite having no evidence. A series of incidents unfolded in the Intan Jaya Regency, Papua Tengah Province in mid-October 2024. Accusing the victims as independence fighters has become a successful strategy by the military members to avoid an accountability process through a military tribunal. This practice aggravates the widespread impunity in West Papua and has become a major reason for the frequent re-occurrence of extrajudicial killings in the region.
Body of Tuju Wonda was discovered by relatives on 25 October 2024
